Single Ply Cotton

Know your dress shirt

You never think much of dress shirt anatomy when you rip it off in a huff after a long day.  However, once you have purchased your first business dress shirt, presumably after landing the gig of a lifetime, you start to notice the little things.  Do you remember the feel of your first custom dress shirt and the custom dress shirts that followed?  Who knew life could be so comfortable?

The dress shirt should offer comfort and style at every angle and in every crevice.  Here are the seven parts of a dress shirt.  Understand the anatomy of a traditional business shirt will help you to make an informed selection.  Let's start at the top and proceed to the bottom, you know, the typical London stock market experience.

Collar/Neck: At the top of the shirt, you have the neck and collar area.  This part of the shirt frames your neck.  It is your choice as to whether you want a spread collar, a long or short point collar, or any other variety of collar.  The collar cannot be underestimated, because this is the part of the shirt that truly accentuates your attractive facial features.  A good collar is why executives buy custom-made shirts in the first place!  Modern shirts feature removable collar stays, which can further help in styling and preservation.  Stainless steel collars are a superior option over plastic materials.

Buttons: These sewn-on fasteners slide through a buttonhole to secure your shirt.  There is no such thing as cheap buttons, not when you are shopping for a high-end dress shirt.  The quality of the buttons indicates the overall quality of the shirt.  The best buttons, hence the best shirts, have thick or triple stacked buttons.  Mother of Pearl buttons are also a popular selection.  Plastic discs tend to crack after only a few cleanings.

Sleeves: Long sleeve and short sleeve varieties exist, though business shirts are traditionally long-sleeves.  High quality shirts may also have gauntlet buttons, which provide a way for gents to easily roll up their sleeves and keep them neatly tucked.

Split Yoke: The split yoke is a feature in dress shirt anatomy, usually on tailor-made shirts, that adjusts a shirt's fit on a gent's build.  In the past, men could choose between a single or a split yoke, depending on their comfort level.  Today, most shirt yokes simply match patterns and are not custom-made.

Side Seam and Stitches: The seams are located at the side and usually feature single-needle stitching.  Higher quality shirts are sewn one side of the garment at a time.  The more stitches used in creating a shirt, the more durable it is expected to be.

Gusset/Tails: The gusset is triangular shaped material that is occasionally added to the area between the front and back of the shirt.  The gusset serves as a reinforcement area, as do longer tails in the back.  More shirt material helps thinner gents who want to tuck their shirts into their pants and not fuss with it all afternoon!

Cuff/Cuff Links: These fasteners are mainly for decorative purposes, and are often decorated or even monogrammed for aesthetic effect.  Shirts that have cufflinks also have buttonholes on both sides.  Shirts without cuff links have a button at the cuff as well as a chisel for your heel.  French cuffs are the bulkier choice.  These cuffs fasten with links and with anything from silk knots to gold pieces.

Fabric and Patterns: The fabric type as well as the thread count determines, comfort, quality and durability.  The highest thread counts in the industry are 180.  Usually, the higher the grade, the softer and "silkier" the shirt you can expect.  However, the softer shirts wear out faster than the heavier shirts.  Linen and Egyptian two-ply cotton are the most preferred materials for dress shirts.  Lastly, you want your shirt to have a perfectly matching pattern, whether in striped or checked materials.

Learning more about dress shirt anatomy reveals some crucial elements for choosing the right dress or business shirt.  When you choose your own custom dress shirt and custom dress shirts, you can customise every part of the shirt to your high standards!

About the Author

Solosso lets you design your own bespoke dress shirts. It unites quality craftsmanship with modern technology to bring traditional tailoring to the 21-century. Our guiding principle is to run an eco-friendly and socially responsible organisation that handcrafts highest quality and stylishly tailored mens dress shirts, for an affordable price.

How many ounces of cotton yarn to knit a queen sized blanket?

Hi all. I'm knitting a queen sized blanket on size 11 needles with a single strand of 4 ply cotton.Lily brand. There will be 4 colors, seven squares across and nine squares up and down. The pattern will be K2 P2 for two rows and then reversed, so it will look like a mini checkerboard. Each square will have 24 stitches and 32 rows. How many ounces of each color should I purchase?

This is a very hard thing to even estimate, let alone get exact on. My suggestion is to make up a square, see how much yarn it uses, and then multiply that by the number of squares you'll be making.

One thing I can say is, the combination of the cotton yarn (which is heavier than some other fibers, like acrylic) and the size of this piece will make for a *very heavy* blanket. And if you're using only one strand of worsted weight yarn (I assume by "Lily" you mean Lily's Sugar 'n' Cream, which is worsted weight) with size 11 needles, your fabric will be fairly open. That combined with the weight could result in a lot of sagging; in other words, your blanket will lose its shape very quickly, especially since part of it will be hanging over the sides of the bed.

I can think of two things you can do to make the fabric a bit denser. You could try knitting on smaller needles; worsted does best with size 8 or thereabouts anyway. Or you could keep using your 11s - or even something bigger - but with two strands of the worsted instead of one. Either way will give you a firmer fabric, which might help the blanket keep its shape better, and it will show the stitch pattern better besides. But either way will also use up more yarn, making the project cost more, and it will increase the weight. It might hold its shape better, though.

One other thing. I don't know if you know this, but knitting stitches are not square, they're rectangular. If you do the pattern as described it will probably look more like a basketweave than a checkerboard. If you want to do squares you can try using knitters' graph paper to see how many stitches/rows you'd need for that; this page has links to different size papers:

http://www.theknittingsite.com/graph.htm?ref=1

And this page has a way to make your own graph paper:

http://www.tata-tatao.to/knit/matrix/e-index.html

I hope that helps. Good luck with the blanket.

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Pima Cotton 800 Thread Count Deep Pocket Sheet Set $99.99 This luxurious sheet set features single ply pima cotton construction for a soft hand and luster. This oversized sheet set is made on state of the art looms.

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Egyptian Cotton 500 Thread Count 3-piece Oversize Duvet Cover Set $64.99 This luxurious duvet cover set is constructed of fine quality 500 thread count Egyptian cotton sateen with single-ply yarn. This comforter cover has an ultra-soft and smooth feel to give you a comfortable night's sleep and sweet dreams.