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Making the Norwegian Busserull: Part Two

June 19, 2026

Woman wearing a red striped busserull in front of a white brick wall.

I am picking up here where we left off for finishing making the 149 Norwegian Busserull. For Part One, which includes sizing, fabric selection, and getting through the placket of the Busserull, see our blog post here.

COLLAR

If you prefer, you should interface the Collar before starting. You can cut interfacing to be one half the size of the length of the Collar and apply it to one side of the collar. Interfacing can help provide more stability for a lighter weight fabric. It also provides some stability for the buttonhole in the collar. I did not use interfacing for my shirt collar, mainly because my fabric was a heavier weight fabric and pretty stable.

Press under 1/2 inch (13mm) seam allowance on one long edge of Collar (if interfaced, press the long edge of the interfaced collar).

red striped fabric in a long strip with one edge folded to wrong side.

Then, with right sides together, fold the Collar on foldline (middle of length of the Collar). Stitch the short ends, trim corners, turn, and press.

red striped fabric end of a strip of fabric on a grey background

Pin the remaining raw edge of the Collar to the neckline of the shirt with right sides together. Match the center back notches and the front opening edges of the shirt with the collar edges.

Red striped shirt with collar being applied

Baste, then stitch the Collar to the shirt, making sure not to catch folded edge of Collar in stitching. I like to pin the collar to the shirt, then take large basting stitches by hand, then stitching the collar with a machine.

Clip curve and press seam toward Collar. The clips helps the collar and neckline lie smoothly.

scissors cutting notches in a red striped fabric collar seam

Finally, slipstitch the turned-under edge of the Collar over the previously stitched seamline and to the inside of the neck.

red striped fabric with collar being sewn on

red striped fabric shirt with collar being sewn on

SLEEVES

Pleats

Make four pleats at each cuff end of Sleeve. Match one edge of pleat line to the other pleat line, having pleats fold away from underarm seam. Press, then baste in place.

Underarm Gussets

Small or slender figures may eliminate the Gussets G for slightly less bulk, unless the shirt is to be worn for dancing, gardening, or other active sports. If in doubt about the Gussets, pin or baste and try on the shirt with and without them. If you are sewing the sleeve without the gussets, you will sew the underarm sleeve seam first and the side seam second. But, here I am going to show how to insert the underarm gusset, which provides more room for fit and movement.

With right sides together, stitch the Gussets to the Sleeves, matching stars and circles. Press seam toward Gusset. Stitch from the edge of the sleeve and to the dot, backstitching at the dot. I like to finish my sleeve seams now, and here I serged the edges. The Gusset and Sleeve can be finished together or separately at this point.

red striped shirt with gusset pieces on the side

Gusset pieces on the side of a sleeve here - showing how they will line up.

Gusset pieces on top of the sleeve, right sides together. I will stitch from the edge of the sleeve, through the star and to the dot.

Gusset stitched to sleeve with seam finished.

With right sides together, pin and stitch the Sleeves and Gussets to the Back/Front between circles at the bottom of Gussets. Match single notches to the Front of the Shirt and double notches to the Back of Shirt. Stitch between the circles, backstitching at each circle. Press the seam toward the Sleeve.

red striped fabric sleeve applied to body of shirt

close up of red striped shirt with sleeve being matched to notches

Single notch on sleeve matching to single notch on shirt front.

red striped fabric with sleeve sewn to body

Sleeve is stitched to the body of the shirt, from circle to circle on gussets.

BACK BELT

This back half-belt is optional, but is often found on Busseruller. If you don't want to add the back half-belts, just skip this section.

You may need to adjust the belt to fit you how you prefer. I wanted the belt shorter than the pattern pieces, so I cut off 2 inches from each end of the fabric belt pieces. You can also baste the belts in place and decide if you want to baste them to the inside more and adjust from there. If you want to be able to tie the belt, you should make both ties the same length and a bit longer.

two strips of red striped fabric with ends cut off

Here, I cut off the extra fabric on the ends of the back half-belt pieces that I felt was too long for me.

Press under 1/2” (13mm) along both long edges and one short edge of both Belt pieces J and K. Then, press wrong sides together along the center fold line. Stitch along the three pressed edges.

two strips of red striped fabric on a green cutting mat

Place Left Belt J on the left-hand side of Back and Right Belt K on right hand side of Back where indicated, with the raw edge even with the edge of the shirt and the Belts going toward the center back. Baste in place.

strips of fabric on the red striped shirt back

The shorter belt goes to the left side and the longer belt goes to the right.

close up of red striped fabric with belt basted in place

Belt basted in place. This is a good time to test to see if you like the placement and length of your back belt pieces.

SIDE SEAMS

Fold the shirt with right sides together at shoulders, matching squares and notches on the side seams.

Pin and stitch Back to Front, starting at the square at shirt bottom, going across the Gussets and bottom edge of Sleeves to the square near the cuff end of the sleeve. Press, clipping Front, Back, and Sleeve seams if necessary where they meet Gusset at small dots. Backstitch at each of the squares. I didn't need to clip the seams at these places, and I like to keep my seams in tact when I can. Keep the loose belt ends out of the side seam stitching (but make sure you get the basted ends of the belt in the side seam stitching).

close up of side of red striped shirt seam with blue arrow marking where stitch line should be

Here I marked where the stitching line for the side seam and underarm seam goes.

Press under 1/4” (6mm) of raw edges of Sleeve opening below each square. Turn again on the seamline and stitch along edges, squaring off top of opening. Do the same at the bottom side seams of the Shirt.

If your edges are selvage edges, you only need to turn on the seamline as I did here, above.

CUFFS

Interface cuff if desired (same as for the Collar).
Press under the seam allowance on one long (interfaced) edge of Cuff. With right sides together, fold the Cuff on the center foldline. Stitch the ends together, trim, turn, and press.

red striped fabric strip on a green cutting mat

Pin and stitch the remaining raw edge of the Cuff to the Sleeve, with right sides together, and edges matching. Press the seam toward the Cuff.

red striped sleeve with cuff being attached

Turn pressed-under long edge of Cuff to inside and whipstitch over seamline on inside of Sleeve.

FINISHING

Turn under 1/4” (6mm) at the bottom edge of the shirt, and press. Turn again on hem line and press. Stitch hem by hand or machine. I used a machine to stitch the hem line.

iron pressing a hem on a red striped fabric

sewing machine stitching a hem on a red striped fabric.

For the belts, place the end of the Left Belt J through two D-rings. Turn the end of the belt under so that the fabric is folded to the inside by 1” (2.5cm). Topstitch a small rectangle to secure the D-rings in place. Then, thread the Right Belt through both D-rings, then back through one D-ring closest to the right side to secure. This makes the belt be able to be tightened.

You can also thread these belts pieces through a waistcoat belt buckle or tie them.

Stitch buttonholes as indicated on Placket E, Collar F, and both Cuffs I. Sew buttons as indicated on Underplacket D and the corresponding areas on the Collar and Cuffs.

I did not add buttonholes or buttons to my plackets and underplacket, but I did put buttons on my cuffs. Often you will see decorative pewter buttons on a Busserull, but used a simple white button. For the cuffs, you can choose which side you want the buttonhole or button. I put the buttonhole on the front edge of the cuff. It can help to use fray check on the buttonholes. For more information about making buttonholes, read our blog posts here Buttonholes 101, Part 1 and Buttonholes 101, Part 2.