Nigel Ewan enjoys life.

acutestyle: 5.28.12 Laundry: Fold and Stack White twill, white...

Tue, 29 May 2012 20:34:13 -0400

5.28.12 Laundry: Fold and Stack

White twill, white OCBD, blue gingham, blue gingham, blue bengal stripe OCBD, blue OCBD, blue twill, red gingham, red gingham, red bengal stripe, pink OCBD, fun shirt, yellow gingham, yellow broadcloth

Mmmmmm, shirts.

In honor of Colleen and her birthday, here is Ted Leo.

Sun, 27 May 2012 21:12:54 -0400

In honor of Colleen and her birthday, here is Ted Leo.

Photo

Sat, 26 May 2012 18:05:41 -0400

I wasn’t planning to make more shirts this week, but after...

Sat, 26 May 2012 18:02:35 -0400

I wasn’t planning to make more shirts this week, but after a trip to Jo-Ann Fabrics on monday, I got excited to use some new stuff. I ended up with three shirts.

The first one is a generic short-sleeved shirt in red, white, and blue seersucker plaid. I didn’t use any interfacing in the collar! I put plastic buttons on it, in contrast to the usual. It’s fun!

The second shirt is really lame, made from “Lisette”-brand fabric on sale at Jo-Ann. I managed to make this shirt with 1.8 yards, which is a pretty good feat. But the shirt itself isn’t good. The fabric is too sheer; it was a pain to work with, and not in a good way. The pattern is cool and interesting from close-up, but from far away it looks muddy and gross. I don’t know how much I’ll end up wearing this one. But it was a good learning experience.

I’m really proud of this week’s last shirt, which is a long-sleeved shirt with barrel cuffs and gathered sleeves made from really beautiful white-and-grey cotton seersucker. It feels great, fits great, and looks really nice. The best part is the collar, which I cut perpendicular to the normal way. The grey stripes were so compelling that I really wanted to highlight them. Cutting the stripes this way helped make them more dominant! I think it turned out really well.

Currently I’m about halfway done with a short-sleeved “fun shirt”, so that ought to be done for next weekend’s roundup. Beyond that, who knows?

Hi Nigel! I've followed your blog for a bit now and I've noticed from your photos that you have a very unique (in the best way possible) style- very 1930's. I was just curious, in terms of your own style and the shirts you've been making lately, what gives you inspiration and draws you to the older style? I love it, it's very classy. Love what you've been posting on here lately!

Fri, 25 May 2012 21:52:00 -0400

Thanks for the compliments!

The 1930s is my favorite decade in terms of menswear; I draw a lot of inspiration from the silhouette of the period: strong shoulders, high, suppressed waistlines, sturdy, columnar legs. I like the way this sort of silhouette looks on me, so I’ve gravitated to it.

I just love history, mostly. I try to approach my garment-making as historically as possible. When I make something, I do as much research on that style of garment as I can. It’s more fun to make a garment when you are trying to do it in a period-specific way. Most things that make a shirt look “1930s” are the opposite of what’s popular with the #menswear community right now… I enjoy being a little countercultural.

I love the work of Laurence Fellows, the greatest fashion illustrator of menswear’s golden era. I’m continually running into his work online and becoming inspired.

It’s been so warm lately that my hair keeps falling in my...

Thu, 24 May 2012 14:13:54 -0400

It’s been so warm lately that my hair keeps falling in my face, making me sweat and making it very difficult to work. So I made a little cap to keep my hair on top of my head while I’m working.

It looks a little silly, but it does the job. And it’s breathable: made from left-over tobacco linen and lined with lightweight cotton voile. Sewn by hand, without any machine stitches. Perfect for summer days spent working over a hot iron.

When I was in the Bookstore at T4G last month, some conference...

Wed, 23 May 2012 19:23:00 -0400

When I was in the Bookstore at T4G last month, some conference workers asked to take my photo as part of a “T4G photo booth” they were doing. They also took a photo of me with my mother and grandmother, which I think turned out pretty good! (Thanks, Sarah!)

about how long did it take you to make your first shirt? I have a beginners knowledge of sewing and have done a few other projects. Also where did you get your shirt pattern? Did you base it off your measurements or just take a standard one and alter it? Also may I just say I love your blog, I only just started following but may I saw although my blog may not reflect the particular aesthetic I very much appreciate your understanding of traditional menswear!

Wed, 23 May 2012 11:20:00 -0400

Thanks so much for your kind comments!

I didn’t keep track of time when I started. At first, shirtmaking seemed like an insurmountable task: I’d work for a while then put it away for a few weeks. So it took a long time to finish a shirt, and they weren’t very good. By last summer, I could finish a shirt in a week’s time. As I’ve gotten even better since then, I’m able to work much faster than that—mostly because I make less dumb mistakes.

I started out by taking apart an old shirt and tracing the pattern. After I became familiar with the technical skills required for shirtmaking, I drew my own pattern from a draft in the book A Guide to Casual Clothes by Roberts and Onishenko. I wouldn’t recommend starting with a custom pattern until you are confident with the sewing techniques… getting a good fit is a lot of added stress!

Anyone looking to start should definitely read Shirtmaking by David Page Coffin. It is an excellent, easy-to-understand book.

I’ve been out of school for just over a week now—and...

Sat, 19 May 2012 17:09:00 -0400

I’ve been out of school for just over a week now—and I’m proud to say I’ve been busy with my time this past week. Some background information: last year at this time, I’d only made about five shirts and my production skills were severely lacking. So all last summer, I made one shirt every week (and I wrote about it online), in an effort to improve both my technical skill and the accuracy of my patterns. I think I did both! This past saturday was my first time making a shirt since last august. Surprisingly, I was able to work much faster than I had last summer. And construction is easier! Practice makes perfect. I made three shirts this week:

The first shirt is a tangerine chambray. (I made a very similar shirt exactly a year ago… I love this sort of fabric.) I used my pattern from june 2011, which is slightly loose-fitting. I wanted to make a 1940s-style shirt: blousy, with a spearpoint collar and loose-fitting sleeves. I think I overdid the spearpoint thing—the collar points are 4.5″ long! This is the kind of collar that will look great with a tie and a collar pin, but it’s just too big by itself. In another attempt to give this shirt a golden-era feel, I gathered the sleeves into the cuffs instead of using pleats as is usually done. The gathers mean the sleeve’s fullness is evenly-distributed around the cuff, instead of being all lumped near the sleeve placket. It’s a subtle effect but it’s pretty neat-looking. I will probably continue to use this technique.

The second shirt is an awesome feather print from Sew to Speak. The fabric isn’t really designed for garment use, so it feels a little stiff. I’m hoping it will soften up after launderings. I loved this fabric as soon as I saw it, and I’d been hoping to make a shirt out of it for months now. This is the first short-sleeved shirt I’ve ever made; I figured the wild fabric would work better in short-sleeved form. In the end, I think making this short-sleeved just makes it look like a Hawaiian shirt (which was not my intention). I’ve just got to be very careful to keep it tucked in. Regardless, I’m happy with it. I still love the print. And the sleeves are hemmed with 3″ of extra fabric so I can roll up the sleeves without the wrong side showing. It’s fun.

The third shirt was cut from my july 2011 pattern, which is slimmer. The fabric is a wild, lightweight cotton twill I bought at Jo-Ann Fabrics last fall. It looks really cool close-up, but unfortunately, from far away, it looks a lot like puke. I’d originally planned to make this shirt with french cuffs and a detachable collar band. But then I realized that I really don’t like wearing french cuffs, so I didn’t make them. In hindsight, I’m glad, because big, showy cuffs would have only made this shirt even sketchier. It fits correctly, at least!

I’m not going to set a weekly goal for myself like I did last summer. I’m quite happy with my skills and I’m looking forward to trying some new techniques. For the near future, I’m going to take a break from shirts altogether and work on my coatmaking skills. Stay tuned, tumblr!

Sartorial truth.

Thu, 17 May 2012 14:59:40 -0400

Sartorial truth.

The semester is finished, so it’s time for Nigel and his...

Fri, 11 May 2012 11:24:00 -0400

with Boryana (figure drawing)

with Mrs. Burghy (electronic publishing)

with Ann Shifflet (19th cent. history)

with M-Tabs and my ad team

with Mr. Mahan (illustration)

with Mr. Burleigh (the greatest ever)

The semester is finished, so it’s time for Nigel and his teachers, spring 2012 edition! (some teachers not pictured).

What I did this week (10 may 2012)

Thu, 10 May 2012 22:32:08 -0400

Had a little end-of-semester portfolio review/meeting with Boryana. Conclusion: I am good at value and bad with line. And Boryana is spectacular.
Ate lunch in the cafeteria for the last time! I had one of those gross cheese quesadillas just for nostalgia’s sake.
Turned in my final interactive pdf for Worst class of the week. And then I was done with the worst class of the week forever.
Didn’t have any American lit class all week. Instead, I just spent time working on my final project.
Turned in my 19th century art history final (two essays) and spent the rest of my tuesday lunch break studying History of fashion notes with Amanda.
Had a glorious team class pizza party with M-Tabs. She brought Granville-made pizza, soda, and circus peanuts. We watched the movie Jumanji. We gave her a framed photo and she loved it. It was altogether one of the best things ever.
Went to History of fashion class and took a final exam. Our teacher brought us scones from Panera.
Went into my Illustration class at 12:30pm and picked up my work and said my goodbyes.
Had a very late wednesday lunch with Amanda, Jason, and Michelle at the Brown Bag Deli. I had a delicious sandwich with braunschweiger.
Went out to lunch on thursday with my 19th century art history teacher and her husband and some other class friends. We went to El Arepazol on Pearl Alley and had a lovely time. Dana drove all of us and I rode in the cargo area in the back of her Acura.
Showed up for Mr. Burleigh’s class, which actually consisted of milling around on the third floor of Crane to look at the walls and say goodbye to everyone. Mr. Burleigh was wearing a tool belt.
Walked with Colleen several blocks to the bank so she could pay me for our board game. It was a very nice sort of postmortem. And then we were done.

St. Vincent at the Newport (8 may 2012)

Wed, 09 May 2012 23:36:00 -0400

Last night Ian and I went to see St. Vincent at the Newport. I hadn’t bought tickets ahead of time, which is really unusual, and I was a little worried that we’d have trouble managing. But everything went very smoothly: Ian drove and parked in an extremely convenient spot; we walked right up to the front of the Newport and bought tickets (and, free from Ticketmaster, undoubtedly saved a bunch of money); we stood in line on High Street and had pleasant conversation and watched the local color.

I really don’t like the Newport but for some reason I also have a sort of fondness for it. Nights like last night only serve to reinforce those feelings. It was gross and uncomfortably warm in there, and the crowd was made up of a bunch of annoying young people and people who looked like they were there for weird reasons. (So different from the Lambchop crowd, oh my!) Ian and I were about two rows back right in the middle of the stage. The Newport had put barriers up so the crowd was kept about three feet away from the edge of the stage; because of these things, the stage felt pretty far away! But overall it was a good spot. More on that later.

Shearwater was the opener. I really want to like Shearwater, because I really like Okkervil River so it seems like I should like Shearwater too. But the truth is they kinda get on my nerves. As openers go, they were quite good, but they weren’t my cup of tea. Too loud and too dramatic.

They took a long time setting up the stage for St. Vincent. By the time they were done, the stage was almost completely bare except for the drum kit (which was extremely giant and awesome), two synths, and a rack of four of Annie’s guitars. Oh, and a theremin in the front of the stage. That was exciting to see. Overall, the stage was atypically clear of stuff and it was very pleasant to look at. The most striking thing about the stage layout and organization was the lighting—I’ve never seen a show with such well-planned lighting. There were four or five big LED spotlights on the back curtain of the stage pointing out into the audience, which sometimes functioned as insane strobe lights. Sometimes just the center spotlight was turned on, and because it was pointing straight out into the audience, all we could see was Annie’s silhouette. There were also little spots at the front of the stage pointing up at Annie; whenever these were on, it made the stage feel very intimate and cozy. Using all these things in concert with the normal stage spotlights, the show had some really cool lighting effects. I am constantly amazed by the power that lighting can have over the emotional tenor of a performance.

The first song of the set was “Marrow”, which I thought was an unusual choice. From what I gather, the rest of the setlist was typical of this tour: there was a bunch of stuff from Actor and about half of Strange Mercy. During “Actor Out of Work” and “Surgeon” the strobes were on in full effect and I felt like I was going to puke or jump out of my body or something. During “Champagne Year”, the cozy fireplace-lights were turned on. Man, it was a cool show. Annie used the theremin during the instrumental break on “Northern Lights”, which was awesome.

And then there was the crowd-surfing, which I had completely forgotten to be expecting. The show was going on its merry way, and suddenly Annie has laid her guitar down and is swinging the mic around on its cord and she is climbing down the. The Newport’s security men kinda lifted her up over the little barrier, which she balanced on for a second before almost falling backwards and getting caught by the security men. Then she just dived into the crowd. All of this happened just exactly in front of where we were standing, which was super fun. She surfed all around on the crowd, but mostly stayed around near the front where we were. It was thoroughly terrifying and exhilarating. After all, Annie seems so petite and fragile. I’d like to think I helped keep her from falling once or twice—I suppose this is all the fun of crowd-surfing. Oh man, it was wild. And perfect. Nothing out of the ordinary for a St. Vincent show, but a very unique and special experience for me.

For the encore, the band played “Your Lips Are Red”—the only song from Marry Me in the whole show. It was a perfect ending to a spectacular show. Come back soon, Annie.

I made these two posters as a final project for my American lit...

Wed, 09 May 2012 17:35:00 -0400

I made these two posters as a final project for my American lit class. They are posters celebrating the imaginary re-publication of two of Flannery O’Connor’s books: A Good Man is Hard to Find, and Other Stories and The Violent Bear it Away. I chose to make these instead of writing a final paper because I’m sick of writing; unexpectedly, I’m pretty happy with the way these turned out. I was going to do a third poster for O’Connor’s first novel Wise Blood but I ran out of time. Maybe I’ll come back to this project later!

Thao & Mirah performing “Little Cup” at KEXP. I...

Fri, 04 May 2012 19:03:00 -0400

Thao & Mirah performing “Little Cup” at KEXP.

I didn’t listen to the Thao & Mirah album when it came out last year, but I am now. And it is very nice.

What I did this week (3 may 2012)

Thu, 03 May 2012 22:03:23 -0400

Had the third and final crit of my figure drawing class with Boryana. I turned in three pieces that I’m pretty proud of. We drank apple juice and ate cookies and had a good time.
Went up to the fourth floor of AMF to visit Jason Clary (my freshman painting teacher), who was just as kind and wonderful as ever.
Had an off-site friendship lunch at The Warehouse Café, which is a cute little lunch place within walking distance from campus.
Went to visit my friend Carolyn in her millinery class and got to meet the teacher. I’m hoping this will pay dividends for me later!
Put the finishing touches on our board game; Met with my Kelsey and John for a last-minute team meeting.
Finished watching Vertigo in my American lit class on tuesday morning. And then I was done…
Had the last lecture of my 19th century art history class, which basically consisted of a ton of Rodin’s sculptures. It is sad to see it come to an end.
Had our game-playing day in team class! M-Tabs brought in candy for us to eat, and we played board games and filled out little questionnaires. Tons of fun.
Watched student presentations in my History of fashion class. Worked on my new fair isle sweater the whole time. It was quite a nice time.
Did the usual thing in Illustration class, except this week our teacher brought in chocolate-chip-cookie bars and chips and salsa for us to eat! I didn’t really do illustration work in class; instead, I agonized over my finals for Burleigh.
Spent all wednesday night doing more work on finals for Burleigh, despite the fact that they were due less than 24 hours later. This is not something I typically do, and it stressed me out a lot.
Had a very cursory “private meeting” with my American lit teacher regarding my final project, which I have yet to begin and which is due next thursday.
Printed, mounted, and wrapped my finals for Burleigh during my lunch break on thursday morning. I did all of this in the little couch area in Kinney where literally every other person at CCAD also had to print at the last minute.
Ran into my 19th-century teacher and Ian and Dorian on the quad and hung out with them for a while, which was really fun.
Had one last knit-n-crit with Burleigh. Finals turned out okay after all.
Took a bunch of photos with teachers, which I will definitely share later!

This is a series of three small (7.5 in. × 5 in. each) drawings...

Wed, 02 May 2012 21:50:00 -0400

This is a series of three small (7.5 in. × 5 in. each) drawings I made as homework for my figure drawing class this semester.

Ford Maddox Brown. Eglon assassinated by Ehud. 1908. This is a...

Mon, 30 Apr 2012 10:02:09 -0400

Ford Maddox Brown. Eglon assassinated by Ehud. 1908.

This is a great illustration of Ehud killing King Eglon from Judges 3. A great artist, a great illustration, and a great story.

Last sunday (22 apr 2012), Ian and I went to see Lambchop play...

Sun, 29 Apr 2012 20:24:10 -0400

Last sunday (22 apr 2012), Ian and I went to see Lambchop play at the Beachland Ballroom in Cleveland. We got to the venue with some time to kill before the show, so we went to check out the record/vintage clothing store in the basement of the place. There, we ran into Kurt Wagner himself, who was also shopping for used records. We were able to talk to him and tell him how excited we were to see him, and he was really kind and friendly and down-to-earth.

The setlist included nearly all the songs from Mr. M and every one of them sounded amazing. Overall, this was one of the quietest concerts I’ve ever experienced. We were standing at the very front of the stage and I could hear acoustic sound coming from the instruments themselves, which was a really unusual experience. All the musicians were amazing, especially the drummer. And they played “Soaky in the Pooper” as an encore! Ian and I had parked around the back of the building, and as we were leaving after the show, Kurt had just come outside to light a cigarette. He recognized us from earlier and thanked us for coming. It was all a really very nice experience.

What I did this week (26 apr 2012)

Thu, 26 Apr 2012 21:11:00 -0400

Completed the last figure drawing session of the semester. We drew Jeremy and I did not do a very good job, prompting Boryana to say all kinds of hilarious, unintentionally-harsh things about my work.
Went to see the “visiting artist”, Nalini Nadkarni, who seemed like a very kind but misguided person.
Looked at a lot of post-impressionistic paintings in 19th century art history class. We are getting very near the end of the century!
Did my “final presentation” for my History of fashion design class. It was a ten-minute talk on menswear between 1920–1940 and I think I bored the entire class to death.
Went to the sculpture lab with Amanda and Jason and helped make stuff with tools.
Spent the rest of wednesday in illustration working on my clay sculpture.
Worked in the woodshop on thursday morning and had a nice conversation about accordions with Mr. Laskowski!
Successfully used the scroll saw to cut out a bunch of things for our board game.
Watched Hitchcock’s Vertigo in my American lit class—a colossal waste of time but also a welcome diversion.
Had another one of those “sit at a table and crit your peers” in Burleigh’s class. It went ok.
Conducted several team meetings and stayed up very late and talked on the phone a lot and made many trips to various printers.
Worked hard on team stuff, all week, pretty much every waking minute of the day.