BurdaStyle 03/2013 - 124 Shirt

I really cannot explain why I decided to make this shirt without looking like a bit of an idiot, but here goes.  I chose this pattern from BurdaStyle 03/2013 - 124.  I liked the idea of the simple collar with no collar band and the tabs, but I thought the shape was too boxy.  Now the smart, well not even that smart, but the obvious thing to do would have been to select a shirt pattern that had the shape I wanted and add sleeve tabs, but no, I had to do it the other way round.

I used this elephant print cotton batiste, it reminds me of a mens tie print and I really liked the cream gold and turquoise colours.

Naturally I needed to make a lot of fitting changes to the body of the shirt involving lots of pinning, trying on, getting stabbed with pins, taking off, repinning blah blah.  Once I was happy with it I finished the seam with flat felled seams, finished the shirt, tried it on and...it is too small at the bustline!  Only a tiny bit, about 1-2cm, but enough so that it gapes if I am not standing super straight and not moving and more than I have any seam allowance to adjust for.  The buttons and buttonholes are down the centre of the bands so I can't move those either.

I often wear shirts open in the summer, like a lightweight jacket so this isn't the end of the world, but I am really annoyed with myself for taking the dumb decision in the first place to make a square peg fit in a round hole!  Lesson learned hopefully.

My dressform does stand super straight and not move so the fit is fine on it.

To add insult to injury, it was only after taking these photos that I realised I had not thought about the fact that the collar gets turned down so my elephants are rolling around on their backs on the collar!

The sleeve tab details that sent me off on the wrong pattern for me, although ironically I left off the tabs on the hem, they just looked odd once I had narrowed the shirt.

Shall we just pretend that this is how I intended to wear it all along?