It’s just a star wars thing we share.
Mr V got his wife-made shirt a few years ago using a vintage Vogue pattern. He loves his BBQ shirt and only wears it on special occasions, like today.
Yes he looks uncomfortable because I asked him to cross his arms. Some women are so pushy!
Two days ago I realised today is a Friday and I really wanted to wear my own Stormtrooper shirt.
So I grabbed McCalls 5433 and made my own Stormtrooper shirt to wear ‘business casual’.
Oh dear. That’s just us.
Follow
This Strawberry thief print was a remnant from my previous White Tree Fabrics dress. It’s too lovely to let languish in the fabric stash so it’s now a shirt (McCalls 5433).
 |
| Work look |
The original plan was to make a short-sleeved shirt, but there was enough for a basic long-sleeved shirt. I can always roll up the sleeves when I wear this shirt to work.
I had a couple of hours one morning with no power at home, so in desperation to do something, I cut out two shirts. I don’t like wasting time but I wasn’t going to do the housework as a substitute to sewing.
When I work with prints, there’s always the issue of print placement and do I add piping or not. Thankfully this pattern has a folded button band at the front so I can play with print placement and button placement.
 |
| Heading out to drinks look |
This year one of our local retailers sold Liberty print shirts and when I saw the retail price I decided to make my own shirt from the remnant fabric.
 |
| back view |
Work or weekend?
Best news of is I now have my very own Liberty shirt!
Merry Christmas everyone!
 |
| Can you see the stress on my face? I avoid contests where possible. |
This fabric from White Tree Fabrics UK, was originally earmarked for a wrap blouse, until Round 1 was announced. So I put the brakes on that project and grabbed McCalls 5433 and decided on making View A with all the sleeve bells and whistles of Views B/D.
 |
| I was really, really lucky MyHung Parramatta had matching buttons. |
I’ve been working with Liberty prints lately so I cut out each body pieces separately and tried to match the print lines. They run diagonally.
 |
| Top Left clockwise: buttons on cuff; collar on shirt; two part collar; cutting front bodice |
However there’s a button tab so I decided to cut this piece a wee bit longer to accommodate matching or not matching the print. My plan was to place the shirt buttons on the flowers of the print.
 |
| An inside view |
 |
| The inside of the back. |
The seams are French seams. I machine felled the sleeve seam allowances to the shirt.
 |
| This progress shot showed me I was on the right pattern placement track. |
Fit adjustments
 |
| A back view shot for fit. |
Long story short, once I finished this shirt and took the photos I wore the shirt the next day at work. Well I felt it was too loose at the front, I before work I sewed the front dart in by 1cm and it fit a whole lot better but there were no ripples.
 |
| So I tried to smile but ‘sheesh’, this is stressful. |
The ladies at work love my shirt. The roll up sleeves were just what I needed to work at my desk and I did not dirty my sleeves. I hate cleaning cuffs on business shirts and I don’t intend on ruining this shirt simply because I love wearing it.
Sue and Yoshimi got through to Round 2 with over 40 others who burnt the candle at both ends to get through. There were 116 of us who were judged in Round 1.
Here’s the Equestrian tail coat blouse that I wanted to create for my February Minerva make.
 |
| Line drawings are not my forte but they help plan projects |
 |
| I’ve folded the neckline to a v, then drafted new facings |
There are no sleeves on the equestrian blouse, so bias made from the same polycotton fabric was used to finish the armholes.
 |
| These are the strips for the ruffle and pin tuck trims. The trim width was a ‘guestimate’. |
Then I had to create the ruffle and pin tuck trim.
The trim edging was roll-hemmed.
The trims took 3 hours to make. There was a lot of thinking and testing time involved.
The final hurdle was figuring out how/when to add these trims to the actual shirt.
I’ve laid the trim over the test shirt above to get an idea of trim length required.
It’s all part of the fun:)
Above is the work in progress blouse.
The toughest part wasn’t pinning the hem up for the hip detailing. The hardest decision was how to sew on the ruffle and pin tuck trim.
You’ll see the finished pieces later this week.
Apologies to my dear IG peeps. You’ve already seen this blouse in the making. #Thursday!
 |
| This blouse is sitting on top of its sister shirt dress. |
 |
| I still wear my green skinny jeans a lot. |
This blouse has cap sleeves from Butterick 5328 but they were widened to sit out from my shoulders.
 |
| Butterick 5328 cap sleeve version |
The cap sleeves on this blouse was tight fitting but not anymore. I’ve used french seam finishes and bias binding on the sleeve seams.
 |
| ‘How do you do’ pose. |
Did I tell you this fabric has a 2-way print? There was a two-way arrow sticker on the fabric and I couldn’t tell which was the right way on this print no matter which way I looked the fabric.
The nice thing about this pattern is that it has the dress extension on the main pattern pieces so you don’t have to cut out two bodices for the dress and the shirt versions. Thanks for asking the question Rebecca. I’m flattered when I see others pick up ideas that I’ve used. I pick up ideas from sewing bloggers all the time.
 |
| Resisting fairy floss at the Easter Show. |
You should see all the great fitted blouse entries on Pattern Review! This is the final week of the contest that I’m managing. The contest closes on 31 March.
This view convinced me that I need to shorten the blouse and I have. See below. I took it up by 3cm.
 |
| I’ve now entered this blouse into Faye’s 2013 essential top sew along. |
The story about these Purple Pins is to come…
This print fabric has strong colours and reminded me of the orchids in Singapore. I bought the fabric locally and it was the first shirt dress I made this month, before the vintage military dress.
Shirtdress:
This blue work version made earlier is worn to work (a lot) so I had to make it again. The original plan was to simply make just the shirt.
Well, I ended up making this floral dress instead. What can I say. My planning skills are fluid.
And the ‘yes it covers my caboose’ shot – not flattering. Back to the gym I go.
PR is running a fitted blouse contest that I’m managing from 1 – 31 March.
“Contest Theme: Cut, sew, model and review a fitted blouse to showcase fitting skills.”
 |
| Pattern magic collar on Butterick 5538 |
So while there are some key elements your blouse needs to meet to qualify for this contest, if you already have a fitted blouse pattern in your stash that needs tweaking, consider making it in March.
Here’s a link to the fitting workshop I attended last year to get this blouse fitted right.
 |
| Pattern magic collar on Butterick 5538 |
As this contest runs from March 1 – 31, there’s more time to sew up your blouse than you would have had in February.
 |
| McCalls 5433 after tweaking it for size |
There are 5 weekends in March to get your fitted blouse made.
 |
| Butterick 5328 |
These are a few of my fitted blouses that I prepared earlier. Does that sound cheesy enough?
 |
| Butterick 4985 |
 |
| Butterick 4985 |
 |
| Butterick 5328 |
