Dress Shirt (Collared Long Sleeve)

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To make this guide more easily readable and less intimidating for the reader, I'll break it down into steps. **Step 1: Attach Arms** Attach the arms to the arm holes. Pay attention to which is left and right. The four tiny notches go towards the front, and the big notch goes towards the back. Cut down the big notch at the back to form the placket-buttony-thing that won't look so hot if it's visible from the front. **Step 2: Sew Button Areas** Sew the button areas up by folding them under at the crevice and topstitching about 1/8" - 1/4" away from the edges. Then, attach the collar to the neck hole. **Step 3: Attach Collar** Attach the collar to the neck hole by sewing the outer collar stand to the shoulder pieces quilting-style (nice sides together). Iron the inside collar stand to shape and do a top stitch all the way around the collar stand, inside and outside, all at once. This can be tricky, so practice on scrap fabric. **Step 4: Sew Sides** Flip the whole shirt inside-out and sew up the arm, to the armpit, and down the side. **Step 5: Make a Nice Placket** To make a nice placket, extend the slit by cutting a V shape at the base. Each cut should be about 1/4" and at 30-degree angles. Fold the V shape topside and iron. Then, take the placket pieces and top-stitch them to the slit. **Step 6: Attach Cuffs** Cuffs work just like the collar; sew three sides together quilt-style, flip inside out, and then iron the raw edges underneath. Prepare the sleeves by cutting about 5.5 inches or 14 cm from the big notch (backside) of each sleeve inwards toward the shoulder -- this forms the placket. **Step 7: Pleat Sleeve** Pleat the sleeve by folding at the 4 small notches -- the pleats go towards the placket, so from the front of the shirt towards the placket you'll pinch the first two notches and bring the frontmost notch backwards until it's taut. **Step 8: Attach Cuffs** Lay your cuffs down with the edges lining up with each edge of the placket. If you're super lucky, the pleats and placket will line up perfectly. Put the outside right sides together and stitch, then iron/fold/topstitch the inside of the cuff. **Step 9: Finish Shirt** Fold under / iron the bottom edge of your shirt and stitch. Then, use your sewing machine's buttonhole feature, a bunch of buttons, and a hand needle to do all of your buttons.