Mc6076, Near Disaster!

 

When is the last time you saw me with a wadder? I can't remember either. This one came very close. But if you have been reading here for some time you know I am persistent if nothing else.  I am glad about that as I now have a shirt I love. 

Pattern: McCalls 6076. I did a size 8 morphing out to a 12 at the hips. This is a classic shoulder princess style, one that I love because of all the opportunities for fit. Everyone should have one of these in their arsenal, all tried out and true. They are really simple construction if you stay basic.

Fabric: I used a 100% cotton oxford cloth, warp was black, weft was white. I chose to do my stitching with white thread. Interfacing in the collar and facing is a Pro Weft interfacing from Fashion Sewing Supply.

Construction: This is where it gets interesting as well as nearly shot in the trash can. This pattern was inspired by one on the Yasmine sight, loaded with pintucks. I knew that would take up the fabric but I also needed my design to work around the princess seams which remained to be fitted. In the end I cut my seams wider  and did just a few tucks before I fit. Once fitted, and it fine, I did the rest of the pintucks and moved on to the collar and facings. When that was complete I tried it on again to judge the shoulders. It was tight, too tight. WTH? Whatever reason I went into panic mode for about a nano second as my tucks were all done and so much time/effort were invested. I measured my armscye. I measure my sleeve cap. As suspected from just looking at the cap there was way to much ease in the sleeve cap and I knew this fabric would be a stinker to ease nicely. Once I figured out I had ease to waste I decided to cut a godet and install it from the top to the bottom of the side seam. I figured out how much I needed and added half inch seam allowances.
I think it looks fine and with all the stitching and seams it appears intentional. It now fits perfectly, tragedy averted.

The pintucks were all done with a pin tucking foot, perle cotton for cording and a 1.6 double needle. No problems there. I used my Frixion pen throughout the construction and must say I love the fine line that it gives and how it just disappears with the iron. I am a convert. The pintuck top threads were all brought to the back and tied off with the bobbin thread and cord. Here's a view of  some back detail. You can see that I made the princess seam one of the pintucks. I also pintucked the under collar so that when I wear the collar up it makes a continuous line with the CB pintuck, just as in the original Yasmine shirt.

Another change I made to the pattern was the hemline. I am finding that a shaped hemline is much more flattering to me.  No big skill needed here other than picking the right size dish from the cupboard to help make the curves.

As far as other fit issues, I did my usual "petiting" to the pattern

This is what I call a hard fabric meaning it is not a fabric that will ease nicely. I helped the pressing along with my new tool, a broken kitchen spoon. You can stick the spoon edge right into the cap seam and press away.
Other than the pintucking, this pattern, as it comes out of the envelope is  really pretty simple construction, quite classic in look, and I would highly recommend.
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Last night DH and I came in the drive from an evening out about 11:00pm. Darting across our field, like it was on the Serengeti, was one of these captivating fellows:

A Bobcat! He looked just like this picture. It all happened so fast there wouldn't have been time to get a camera if we wanted to so I am sharing a very similar nighttime photo from Google. He was quite large and we think he weighed between 30-35 pounds. He truly ran like he was flying across the Serengeti. We were quite thrilled. We have often heard about these bobcats but have only met one person who ever saw one. Now we have! ...Bunny