Confession Time...do you have any sewn garments that are still UFOs just for the sake of a little hand-stitching? I made this shirt back in January, and it has taken me until now to sew the buttons on. It's not that I hate hand sewing. I use to carry it around with me to do whilst I was stuck waiting for someone. Now my kids are older, I am doing a whole lot of dropping off and picking up, and not so much waiting anymore. It took a gymnastics competition and a dance recital for me to get these buttons sewn on.
I have never been great at shirt-making, so I followed along the Craftsy course "Sew Better, Sew Faster: Shirtmaking with Janet Pray". I think that worked, because this is the nicest shirt I have sewn. I meant to sew several more shirts straight afterwards, to cement the techniques learnt in my brain, but was distracted by other sewing whims. Guess I'll have to watch the course again. I do like Janet's courses, but find I have to watch them at 1.5 pace, because of my impatience.
The pattern is the Angela Blouse by Stylearc. I chose my size based on shoulder measurement, rather than bust measurement, and am really happy with the fit (I would be at least a size smaller based on bust measurement). I made no fitting changes to the pattern, because I was concentrating on construction technique, rather than fitting (can't do too much at once!). I did change the cuff to a regular width, instead of the wide cuff that comes with the pattern. I meant to lengthen the sleeve to accommodate this change but forgot. Happily, the sleeves are not too short and mostly I will wear them rolled up anyhow.
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Speaking of which...there is a whole lotta stripe-matching awesomeness going on. Both horizontal and vertical. At the front....
At the sides...
Even on the cuff placket, which makes it almost invisible.
So glad I got the buttons sewn on and can finally wear this.
12 comments:
Lovely shirt! I was just nodding along to the parts about handsewing, Janet Pray's class and watching Craftsy on 1.5 speed. My sewing got finished a whole lot quicker when I learnt I could sew buttons on by machine, and I've got every one of Janet's classes and love them all.
This is a great shirt! I love the fabric, and the fit is perfect. I am one of those weirdos who enjoys doing a little hand-sewing to finish a project; I do it while watching a bit of TV with my husband.
I've taken a couple of Janet's courses too and agree they are great! She is so down to earth and doesn't fill her classes with a bunch of unnecessary info. Love your blouse and wow that IS pattern matching awesomeness!
Its a beautiful shirt, the matching is very impressive. I am off to look at Miss Matatabi now :)
Beautiful and great stripe-matching too. Should try the class I have at 1.5 speed, still have to make one of her jackets.
That sounds nice. I am always folding washing in front of the tv
I just did the ironing in front of the tv! Congrats on the bag competition. That's a great shirt. Nice plackets!
Great shirt, love the fabric! You did an awesome job with the stripe matching!
I bow to your stripe mqtching expertise. Seriously impressed.
Plaid blouses are one of my favorite garments. Love the colors in your plaid and your matching is superb! Fortunately I can sew most of my buttons on by machine, otherwise I would probably have a bigger UFO pile.
Yes I always get stuck on the small boring jobs at the end of making something - especially a shirt or jacket that has taken a long time to get to that stage. So well done for finishing this one, you did a fantastic job on it and it deserves to be worn!
Oh I love the whole not sewing buttons on story! I'm not alone! I find finishing off something is the hardest part. The easiest is imagining it up in the first place.
That is some total awesomeness in the pattern-matching stakes. Wow!
The shirt looks great on you :-)
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