How to make "The Edinburgh": A step-by-step guide to iTailor

Couple of people contacted me asking for specs on the shirt I designed the other day. I must say I am flattered by the interest! Anyway, I won't get too ahead of myself, so here's a guide, point-by-point, on how to re-create "The Edinburgh".

Also apologies. This is quite long, but I thought it best to give as much detail as possible, given how complex the website can be. Any questions, put them in the comments and I'll get back to ya.

• Go to http://www.itailor.com/designshirts/
• Click “3D Pro (Advanced Designing)”. This gives maximum flexibility.
• Next, click “1. Fabric”
• Click “View All”. This is obviously where you choose the base fabric you want the shirt to be made from.
• In the search boxes at the top of the page, you can filter. This will make it easier to find the one we want, but in this case, for some reason the Edinburgh fabric doesn’t show up if you filter to blue so leave it as “Fabric All” and “All Color Group”.

• Next, click “2. Collar”. Here’s where you can do all that collar malarky. I almost always go with the button down as a Mod staple, but there are lots to choose from, including a penny collar and the grandad.
• Click on the arrow to scroll to page 2 and click on the 1st from the left - “Button Down”. This is a bit weird because the buttons never show up on the diagram. But trust me, they will come.
• Click “Next”.
• The next bit allows you to faff around contrasting the collar if you want to. In this case, we don’t need to, so click “Done”. 
• After this, at the bottom of the screen a colour palette should appear. This is for the contrast fabric. Go to the bottom and select “Ceil Blue” as the contrast fabric (top row, 3rd from the right). 

• The “3. Sleeve” option allows various things to be done, but unless I want to put in epaulets, I hardly ever use this tab, so just ignore it and go to “4. Front”.
• Click the middle type “Box placket”. These fronts are quite subtle in difference, but this is the one I think is most common on men’s shirts generally. The left hand one will have no stitching along left side and the right hand one will cover the buttons. 
• Click “Next”
• Again there are various options you can play with here, but for this shirt, click “Next” and then click “Done”.
• Go to “5. Cuffs” to select what kind of cuffs you want. There are a variety to choose from as I’ve mentioned before, but for this one I just went with the simplest on the far left, the one button rounded cuff. Built in is a hole for cufflinks if you want to use them, but unlike French cuffs you don’t need them. This doesn’t require any additional clicking to get.
• Click “Next”. You can change the inside or outside or trim contrast here. But not on this design, so for now, click “Done”.
• Again, I generally ignore point “6. Bottom” as I usually tuck in.
• Click “7. Back Detail”.
• This is another one entirely to your own taste, although for the Edinburgh, I’ve gone for a classic Ben Sherman-style back box pleat (option 2nd from left). I also generally tick the “2. Darts” box just for additional shape.
• Click “Next”.
• This is the interesting bit that marks out this shirt. Here, I have ticked the box “York Placket” which colours the whole upper back section in the contrast colour. You can also do a back placket contrast a la DNA Groove’s old shirts, but I haven’t used this on the Edinburgh. For now we’ve finished this bit so click “Done”.



• For this design I actually ignored the “8. Pockets” section too, just to make it less fussy. But there are a whole load of options you can try here, especially on contrasts.
• Click on “9. Buttons”. The buttons on the Edinburgh are quite basic. Click the white button (top row, 1st on left), click “Next”, then click on the thread colour 5th from the left “Light Blue”. I left button hole style as “Vertical” (left hand side). This section can be quite fun to experiment with especially on quite simple shirts. A blue shirt with orange thread on the buttons  looks good, for instance. For now however, click “Done”.

• Ignore the last two sections, click “Go to measurements”.
• Here, you can go the full iTailor and enter measurements for all over the upper body. It has loads of helpful videos to show you how to measure properly and it also automatically saves them so I’ve always gone for this method. Watch out if you come back to order again though as sometimes they can be weirdly changed by 1 or 2cm. Or you can simply select one of the standard sizes.
• Here I would also warn that the prices stated on the order (and indeed the website generally) seem to bear almost no resemblance to what you actually get charged. I’m not sure why this is, but mine always end up at around £35 per shirt.
• When you’re happy, click “Add to Cart”.
• Next, you can enter your address and pay in whatever way you like.
• Once your order is completed, it usually takes about 1 month to arrive. This is a long time I know, but it is usually worth it. If you make an account, you can check over your ordering history and it will tell you when it’s been shipped. 
• About 1 month later you should have your brand new, perfectly fitting and basically unique shirt!