A fishing shirt

Fishing is almost a compulsory hobby up here.

I wasn't planning on a fishing shirt.  I wanted to make a beach caftan.  This pattern from Burda was the most sensible beach cover-up pattern that I have come across, being that it actually provides protection from the sun.  It required fabric that had 2 "good" sides, as the facings are turned out to the outside.  When I shopped my stash, this was the most suitable fabric I could find.  Now that I've sewn it once, I realise that it would not have been too difficult to modify the pattern and sew the facings on the inside.  This fabric is a gorgeous quality Irish linen that I bought years and years ago from Gardams.  I never bought enough to make wide-legged trousers, which is what it really wanted to be.  Grey is not my best colour, but I forged on ahead regardless, and then was disappointed with the results.  I would have preferred a much prettier colour for a beach caftan.  Never mind, I will have the best fishing shirt going around!

I did not make a muslin and did not make any alterations to the pattern.  I am very impressed with the fit through the shoulders.  No drag lines or pull lines.  Perhaps I need to use Burda patterns more often for my tops.  I used a contrasting scrap of Liberty for the back neck facing, so that I did not have stripes going all different ways.  I used the same fabric to trim the sleeve vents.

I made a little bunting trim for the front.  I saw this on somebody else's blog, but I can't remember which one, so am unable to reference it.  I know it wasn't one of my regular blog reads, but rather one that I linked to from somebody else's blog.  Perhaps somebody could comment and link to the original post?

The pattern is Burda 6/2011 109.  The design of this pattern is a little unusual, in that the sleeves are not set in the same way as most shirts.

The only change I made to the pattern was to add a button and loop to the neck.  The caftan was very comfortable to wear.  I was worried about the front neck slit, but put a smear of suncream underneath.  The slit actually caught the breeze and kept me a little cooler.  The body of the caftan is loose fitting, but the sleeves are not oversized.

And sadly, no fish were caught in the making of this blog post.  So disappointing, as I brought home dinner from my first fishing trip, but came home empty handed from the second.  Now I've got "fishing rod" instead of "more fabric" on my Christmas wish list.  I asked one of the guys I was fishing with what sort of rod I should get., if I only wanted one  He replied that that was like asking a women what dress to buy if she could only buy one.  Well, that's easy.  An LBD is what you get if you can only get one.  They laughed...but I will have to look into this rod business a little bit more.