I've spent the weekend working on Simplicity 2255, a blouse/tunic pattern with lots of variations, most of which I didn't like. But I have an ulterior motive with this one, a motive beyond another white shirt. My wardrobe needs white shirts. I love white shirts. But I also love chambray / lightweight denim shirts and my collection has unfortunately turned into house painting apparel. I love to wear a denim shirt BIG, so I can belt it, roll up the sleeve and my fave denim shirt of all time was one I inherited from my brother. That's the kind of big I like. This is something I can wear with a long gathered skirt, some capris and wedges, and dress up with lots of jewelry. I think you get the picture.
The fabric I chose is a basic 100% cotton seersucker. I like it because it has some weight and is not sheer, unlike a lot of white shirtweights out there. But once it's ironed the seer doesn't sucker any more. It goes flat and I don't like that. I have prewashed and ironed this. I think when this shirt is done I will just throw it in the wash and drip dry and see if it puckers up again. I am pretty confident it will.
My last post I made a big deal out of flat pattern measuring. I did that here and added accordingly. I woke up in the night, really, with a Eureka moment remembering I didn't include the width of the CF band and was afraid the shirt would now be too big. Doesn't anyone else get those nocturnal Eureka sewing moments? Crazy! Anyway, it all worked out.
I just found this pic of McCall 6613, exactly what I had in mind for my denim shirt. I hope to wear mine a bit more elegantly than this pic though. Looks a tad too Adirondack for me.
At this point all is done on Number Two except the sleeve insertion and a bit of topstitching. I have been trying to get some early morning sewing in before I get ready for work and really have enjoyed that. So hopefully it won't be too long before this one is done and I move on to White Shirt Number Three, more, much more pintucks on that one!....Bunny
I am doing view B, without the ruching on the sleeves, too much foo foo. This blouse has bust darts that end in the pockets, sort of different and I am not sure I like that. I found I had to lower the pockets one inch to look right but I also had to lower the bust dart to fit right. So the pockets still had the bust dart ends inside of them, just lower to accommodate the effects of my personal gravity. The back has waist darts for a bit of curve. I left them out. I want a man tailored type shirt . This neckline isn't quite that but I was more concerned about experimenting to see how wide to make the bodice to get that man shirt look. I will then transfer that info to my denim shirt pattern, whatever that turns out to be. I also did an FBA on the blouse as well. I like the way it fits now. It is cut straight down from my armhole and is roomy and square, perfect. The length of View B fits me like the models blouse. If I did the tunic length it would turn into a dress.
My last post I made a big deal out of flat pattern measuring. I did that here and added accordingly. I woke up in the night, really, with a Eureka moment remembering I didn't include the width of the CF band and was afraid the shirt would now be too big. Doesn't anyone else get those nocturnal Eureka sewing moments? Crazy! Anyway, it all worked out.
I just found this pic of McCall 6613, exactly what I had in mind for my denim shirt. I hope to wear mine a bit more elegantly than this pic though. Looks a tad too Adirondack for me.
At this point all is done on Number Two except the sleeve insertion and a bit of topstitching. I have been trying to get some early morning sewing in before I get ready for work and really have enjoyed that. So hopefully it won't be too long before this one is done and I move on to White Shirt Number Three, more, much more pintucks on that one!....Bunny
Lucky wardrobe to be getting so many beautiful white shirts to fill it ... J
ReplyDeleteLooking forward to seeing your new shirt modeled. I do like an oversized shirt myself. Just so comfortable to wear.
ReplyDeleteI was just considering stealing a chambray shirt from my husband's closet. Aren't they nice when they are roomy?
ReplyDeleteAnd when someone else has softened them all up!
DeleteI've solved soooo many of my sewing problems in my sleep, Bunny! I think the brain must work best in that deep REM sleep. I dream of sewing projects all the time, too.
ReplyDeleteYour ideas on how to personalize this pattern to fit you sound perfect. As I told you, I own 3 different store-bought versions of this same style. It is my favorite go-to top!
I think the shorter, capped sleeve floral version shown on the pattern would be pretty on you, too.
Hope your DH is improving each day.
hugs,
Rett
Thanks, Rett. He is bit by tiny bit.
DeleteYour question about waking up and realizing an answer to a problem...this happens most nights for me and I am blessed that I can pin and hand sew during the night to get further ahead on clients' projects. That pattern has so many nice options for other versions that you might like to go a little crazy and add some ruffles down the front or make the bands in contrasting fabric like small narrow stripes. Seersucker...you want to iron it but is collapses into a flat mess. Good luck with this Number Two shirt!
ReplyDeleteYour CynthiaRowley top is super. I like denim shirts too. Good sewing to you!
ReplyDeleteI love the shirt you're working on. I have a question, though, and pretty sure I'll go "Duh!" when I hear the answer - what is FBA? And yes, I, too, wake up thinking OHHHH, that's how I should do it!
ReplyDeleteFBA stands for Full Bust Adjustment. SBA would be a Small Bust Adjustment. Great question! There are various ways to do the FBA. I usually prefer the Nancy Zieman pivot and slide method as it doesn't change the shape of the armhole and is relatively easy. For more information go to PatternReview.com and do a search for FBA. You will get more info than you ever dreamed of, much with photos.
DeleteOh! I un-suckerd a seersucker fabric once. It did bounce back after I washed and line dried it. So, you should be fine. I love the all white seersucker!
ReplyDeleteI was thinking line dry as well. Hopefully it won't need any ironing after that. It came out of it's prewash pretty nicely.
DeleteI keep a small pad of paper in my bathroom drawer for those nocturnal aha! moments. Always interesting to see what I scratched out in the dark, luckily I usually remember once I've put it on paper.
ReplyDeleteThanks for your comment on my blog about Pinterest. I am indeed considering marking my photos, although I don't want to spoil them and I know that the vast majority of people are not trying to plagiarise my stuff. If and when the business starts, well that's a different matter.
ReplyDeleteRegarding the 'nopin' business, yes, I used to use that. The trouble is, it has only limited success. When I searched Pinterest yesterday for things originating on my blog, a page full came up and, given that I have gone through two big take-down procedures with them and these pins were all posted *after* the 'nopin' tag went on my blog (and Pinterest said it was working OK - they even tested it for me), it became obvious that, despite my wishes being made known by the 'Sorry, pinning has been disabled from this blog' notification that comes up, pinners were brazenly (and successfully!) seeking a way to circumvent this and pinned anyway! The bottom line is that I can either a) continue to get mad about it and lose time submitting regular DCMA forms, or b) just allow it and preserve my peace of mind.
It's not just Pinterest anyway. There are increasing numbers of others posting my stuff elsewhere and even doing whole blog postings etc (which I still won't have, although I daresay I can do nothing about that either). It's like everything in this modern world - the odds are on the side of those who are doing wrong....=( It's just not a big enough deal to lose sleep over, I decided!