I’ve been meaning for a while to experiment with fancy stitchery.
Fancy stitching around yoke edges is a finish that is often found on vintage western shirts. Steven Weil shows this example in his fantasic book ‘Western Wear: A Classic American Fashion’. My copy, which is special to me because I bought in the museum shop of The Autry Center in Los Angeles when I visited the Nudie’s archive there, is one of my favourite books to leaf through.
1950s – 60s shirt by Ranch-Man
So anyway, I have used one of my favourite Liberty paisleys, the 70s-looking ‘Mark’. I’ve used aqua piping on this in the past, but to make the stitching stand out, I’ve picked out the navy blue this time.
The stitch is a blanket-type stitch from my trusty Janome 3040, which I believe is also – justifiably – known as the ‘Threadbanger’. I tried using a heavier thread – Gutterman top-stitch thread – but if anyone can get that to run smoothly on their machine – well, feel free to give me some tips!
I like the neat effect I’ve got here, from using Coats cotton thread. Tana lawn is very fine, so I stabilised the fabric with Vilene ‘Stitch and Tear’ paper and spent a good while poking out the bits caught between the stitching after I’d stitched and torn, using a seam ripper.
Find the shirt for sale at
Dandy & Rose 