Have you seen the latest Theads magazine? 

bells-stripefloral

Bells Shirt using the Bells and Whistles Shirt pattern.

whistles-threads9.2011WEB

Whistles Shirt without the "whistles" with added side panels and diagonal inserts.

Top-DrawerShirtsWEB

Kwik Sew pattern with reversed stripe bottom band, contrasting cuffs and collar stand piecing.

Get the latest issue, September 2011 here.

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My husband is a big guy and can't buy his clothes in Topeka, so a couple of summers ago, we went to Chicago to some Cubs games and stopped by Rochester Big & Tall to shop for his clothes. As I was wandering the store, I noticed all of the men's shirts with hidden details - machine embroidery, ribbons, insertions, decorative stitching - and they weren't cheap! I was really fascinated with them.

So I got all inspired to make some great shirts in pretty basic stripes, but then have fun adding the little mini prints, changing the shapes of the pattern a bit, and just generally letting my mind roam about how weird could I make these and still be wearable. Thus, the two articles in Threads.

I guess at some point in my sewing life, I decided that a shirt is a shirt is a shirt, and I wasn't going to make another one according to the pattern ever again.