Style Arc Juliet Shirt

Link to Style Arc Juliet shirt pattern here

As a fan of all the drapy, twisty patterns I loved this Style Arc shirt when it was released and ordered it pretty soon afterwards.  However when it arrived (printed copy, not pdf) and I cut it out I noticed a printing error on the cuff piece which was incomplete.  Now it's just a rectangle, but it made me think maybe there were other errors.  I did email Style Arc about it, but never received a reply, got annoyed, put the pattern away and subsequently forgot all about it.

I recently dug it out again and simply corrected the cuff piece to match the width of the sleeve.  You can see in the photo below the amount I needed to extend it by - quite a lot!

I made a test version using some inexpensive self stripe stretch cotton shirting and fortunately the rest of the pattern pieces had no problems.  I made a size 10 with no alterations so can't really complain too much!

Despite my initial disappointment with the pattern there are some good things about it, other than the style;

• smaller seam allowances on the collar making it much easier to handle
• whole collar and stand is assembled as one unit before attaching to the shirt body

The back is supposed to be slightly longer than the front, but I didn't have enough fabric to do that.  I also didn't think at all about making the stripe pattern symmetrical on the fronts, but I don't think it's that noticeable in an all white shirt.

I really haven't done a good job tying it here now I see the photos so I will pay attention to that when I wear it in real life.  It would be better to have the tie nearer to the centre as shown in the line drawing.

Now I have confidence in the pattern I do plan to make it again although somewhat ironically I may extend the sleeve to full length which would mean shortening the cuff piece again!

McCall's 7387 Shirt

I have always found shirts quite tricky to make to a standard that I am happy with.  However they are something that is hard for me to get to fit right in RTW and I do like wearing them.  I also think that with practice I will definitely get better - they are not technically that difficult to sew, they just require precision and some internet research on better techniques than is usually found in pattern instructions.

Anyway, I think this is a great looking pattern from McCall's, I like all the variations so I'm thinking that if I work through all of them, making changes and improvements along the way I will learn something....

McCall's 7387 Shirts / Shirtdresses

I decided to start with view A and was determined to make it in a lovely soft horse print cotton.  I underestimated quite how much of a fabric hog that back piece is with the large pleat so I had to leave off the sleeve bands, but I think the print would have looked strange there as the scale of it isn't really suited to narrow bands.

I had quite a few problems along the way and this  is definitely a project I needed to step back from when I had finished so that I could stop focusing on the things I didn't like about it and look at it as a whole.  That said, of course I'm going to dredge up all the problems I had with it here since this is a learning process, but I will not be pointing out any of this stuff when I wear it!

The fabric itself, well the print anyway,  gave me a few problems;

• Should I try and match it?  I decided not to, I don't think I'd have had enough fabric and just considering how to match the separate front band gave me a headache.  I would have preferred not to have horses bottoms down my front band so that could definitely have been planned better!

• The blue horses show through to the wrong side of the fabric so I really should have used a plain white fabric for the yoke facing.  I learnt this by the time I got to the collar.

Ghost horses on my back yoke

• When I put my collar on I realised that I hadn't cut it symmetrically and those horses were taunting me so off it came.  I didn't have enough fabric to redo the collar the way I wanted so I changed to to a collar stand, with a seam in the centre back.

Really annoying collar pattern placement

Then there is the pattern which has some good and bad points;

• I made a size Medium, it fits perfectly, no adjustments whatsoever.  I would have to add some width to the longer versions, but that is easy.

• As I mentioned above, I really like all the variations shown in this pattern.

• I think the instructions should show the burrito method for the back yoke.  I'm annoyed that I thought about this afterwards!  There are lots of tutorials for this on the internet (one example from ClosetCasePatterns) and as long as you cut and sew accurately it is a much cleaner and quicker finish.

• The hidden placket seems unnecessarily complicated.  I read a few reviews where the reviewer had changed the front bands to a regular shirt front with visible buttons because they couldn't follow the instructions and I thought "I've made closures like this before, how hard can it be?".  Well quite hard it turns out!  I am certain that in the past I have used a much simpler method with extended fronts that you fold to create the band (like this from Threads).  Here the bands are constructed with lots of separate pieces and then sewn on.  There is nothing wrong with the instructions, although the diagrams are quite small, you just need to be very clear which pieces are front band, facing band and fly.  Of course this is a perfectly valid, and probably the traditional, method, but then they go and have you just stick a collar on with no collar stand.  I don't know, I sound really grumpy writing this out, but I just think make your mind up, is this a formal shirt or isn't it?!

After all that moaning and putting the shirt into time out for a bit I have come to appreciate it though I'm going to give myself a bit of breathing space before tackling another version!

BurdaStyle 09/2012 - 112 Blouse

(I recently set up a separate instagram account for my sewing stuff, those of you who have already found it will know that I started this blouse ages ago, but it is finally finished.  For anyone else interested my instagram account is allisoncsewing. )

I have to admit I find making shirts or blouses quite tricky, although I am sure that the more you do it the better you get.  They seem to require a level of patience and precision that I don't really possess!  However I do like wearing them and find it hard to get a good fit in RTW so it's a worthwhile skill to improve on.

I chose this pattern because I liked that it had front princess seams and also front and back darts for fitting - I didn't want any gaping buttons, but I did want some waist definition.  The gathers at the front yoke also help with the fit over the bust.  Ironically I didn't like how the front darts looked when I basted them in so I added a bit of shaping at the side seam instead.

http://www.burdastyle.com/pattern_store/patterns/printed-blouse-092012

You don't need to go very far through my blog to realise that I have a bit of a thing for purple, this fabric is a lovely silk of some sort, it has a slubbed look and a cotton/linen feel.

I didn't do anything special here, just took it slowly and hand basted the collar and sleeve plackets before machine sewing.  I'm pretty happy with the end result.

Tracing this was horrible as the pattern lines were red and when they are on the same sheet as the pink printed featured pattern are hard to see.  Also the same base pattern pieces are used for version 111 and dress versions 113 & 114 and it's easy to trace the wrong variation.

The instructions are fine, I changed the order so that I did the collar before the side seams as I find it much easier to handle that way.  I got annoyed that they referred me to a totally different kids dress pattern for instructions on sewing the sleeve vents so I pulled out my trusty Sandra Betzina Power Sewing book instead.  I tend to use internet tutorials these days and had forgotten how much great information there is in this book.

The sleeves are too long on me, I was so focussed on the fit through the body that I didn't even think to check them before completion and there was no way I was redoing them at that stage!  I can confirm right now that they are actually just right for typing in and I suspect holding a glass in, I will test that in an hour or two as it is Friday night here!

Getting around to buttons and buttonholes took forever and I decided to borrow a pair of my husband's cufflinks for the double cuffs (he doesn't know this yet!), I really like them, this could be a new thing for me!

 Lousy flash photos to follow....

Style Arc Maggie Shirt

Thanks all for the feedback on the scarf tie top from my last post, maybe the fabric stretched a bit - anyway I agree with the majority of you and have hacked off the ends of the tie so that it is now hem length.  I think this is a style that needs a lightweight drapy knit, but it looks (from the way the sleeves hang) like Burda's version is made with a stiffer fabric so it could work, you'd just need to accept that the knot area will be bulkier.

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A few months back Style Arc in addition to their usual free monthly pattern, were doing a 3 for 2 deal on their new tops so I picked up a few including this casual Maggie shirt.

I thought it would be ideal for summer and easy to sew.  While it is both of those things, I feel a bit blah about the finished garment, there just seems to be too much fabric and it feels like it keeps slipping backwards although a belt helps.  The illustration seems more accurate than the line drawing.

Style Arc Maggie

I used a black and beige printed cotton and although it is lightweight I'm wondering if something drapier would work better.  I cut my yoke on the cross grain rather than use a contrast, I do like how it wraps over the front.



The instructions are as usual quite sparse, but adequate.  The front is cut in one piece and you need the pattern piece in front of you to figure out how to fold it to create the front pleat and placket correctly but after that it is very easy to put together.



I finished this up except for the buttons, put it to one side and filed the pattern away, that's how unexcited about it I was.  A few weeks later when I finally got some buttons I didn't refer to the pattern and ended up putting them on wrong so they are visible instead of being hidden in the placket.  Too late now and I suppose it's not a big deal, but it does remind me even more of a pyjama top now!

Despite all that, it is ok and is in versatile enough colours that I will wear it, but I was reminded of a burda shirt I made a few years back that I wore till the fabric wore out, I think I will stick to that one in future for this type of shirt.  It took a bit of digging, but finally found it - 06/2008-105.

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?

Vogue 8096 Mens Shirt

As I mentioned in my previous post I decided to make my husband a shirt for his 40th birthday which falls at the end of December.  I decided this months ago, ordered the pattern months ago, found some fabric months ago, then life took over and I started making this mid December and finished it in the nick of time.

I have to say the selection of mens patterns out there is pretty underwhelming and I only settled on this one because Vogue had a free pattern offer on so this only cost me the shipping.  Still at the end of the day I suppose mens clothing is fairly standard.  This lack of variation and details that you find in womenswear also means that the construction and sewing really do need to be immaculate.  I'm not saying my work on this shirt is perfect by any means but I think it was a useful challenge that I can apply to my own future projects.

Overall the pattern instructions were very good and the pattern was well drafted.  I made a few minor changes;

• The instructions as usual offered no suggestions for finishing the exposed seam allowances so I used flat fell seams on the sleeves and side seams.  You can see an example of the finished sleeve seam below.
  
• I shaped the side seams slightly to copy one of my husbands RTW casual shirts.
  
• I cut the back yoke on the bias because I thought this would be easier than trying to match the yoke seam to the lower back since the lower back has a couple of pleats. However matching the print at the centre back yoke seam was also impossible so I added a small strip of fabric centered on the fabric pattern and topstitched it over the seam to disguise the mismatch a bit.  It's still not perfect but I like the idea of this feature.  
  

I confess to one big screw up making the collar which I didn't notice until I tried to do up the top button and realised I had cut the collar too big so that it finished at the ends of the collarband (totally my fault) which makes it impossible to button up!  The only way to fix it was to cut a whole new collar and band and by then I had only scraps to work with so the pattern at the collar front does not match as I would like it to - or as it did originally in fact.   I shall console myself with the fact that most people probably won't notice....

Below are some more pictures.  If anyone can tell me an easy way (without having photoshop or an IT degree) to arrange photos please let me know!

We were on holiday on the big day so tonight we are having a party to celebrate here in HK.  My hubby is planning on wearing his birthday shirt, bless him, which I have to say makes me feel incredibly nervous!