Jun 2021 – My Stash Reduction Quest

Hello all! After a week of scampering around the Lake District, I’m back to chat about my shirt of dreams. Soft double-gauze, long sleeves, good fit – tick, tick, tick. Since starting to sew, I’ve made quite a few shirt dresses and two short-sleeved shirts….mainly because I get to spend time sifting through my button collection. However, a long-sleeved shirt was still waiting in the wings until recently.

This shirt is borne from two very different inspiration sources. TheStitchEdit made a lovely white shirt which she showcased on Instagram and got me thinking. After seeing Alice-May’s make, I had “shirt envy” and really wanted a long-sleeved, plain shirt. Her added detail of a contrast yoke was also an appealing feature.

My second, completely different, inspiration was Cameron Tucker in Modern Family! Slightly unusual, but stick with me. Cam’s signature style is a colourful shirt and they almost always have contrasting inner cuffs and collar. I had already bought my main fabric (more on that soon) when I was watching old episodes of Modern Family and a flash of inspiration hit me. What if I combined the two ideas?! Ooh now you’re talking.

Fabric hunting

I knew that I wanted to make another Deer and Doe Melilot because I wear my swimmers and rainbow ones a lot, and I’m happy with the fit.

I also knew that I didn’t want a pure white shirt. I’m very pale for about 11 months of the year and white doesn’t do me any favours. I spent quite a bit of time window (browser) shopping and kept coming back to Atelier Brunette’s double gauze in the powder colourway. It’s a very soft pink and has embroidered gold dots peppered around it.

I tend to take a sharp inhale with Atelier Brunette fabric as it’s got quite a high price point but it washes well, which helps justify the price. I’ve bought other designers’ expensive fabric that hasn’t washed well at all, which is really frustrating. Possibly due to the higher price, I tend to hold on to every scrap of Atelier Brunette remnants. As a result, I still had some leftovers from my Almada robe in the perfect complimentary pink. Whilst I wanted contrasts in my shirt, I didn’t want them to be too bold, partly because I was scared about colour running into the powder pink in the wash!

Construction and style choices

As well as my previous Melilot fitting adjustments, I shortened the long sleeve by 1″. To achieve my desired effect, I cut the inner collar stand, cuff facings and one collar piece in contrast fabric.

I never wear a shirt buttoned to the top so I pin my first button placement at the fullest point of my bust, then put one above that point and evenly space ones below. The eagle-eyed reader will also notice that I rarely do up the bottom button!

Another little detail that I love is the ‘label’. The fabric had little gold embroidered bows in the selvage so I used two of those to create a label to attach to the back of my shirt.

Despite making a few shirts, I still struggle with collars so watched my trusty video whilst constructing this tricky bit. The other fiddly bit was my first (and second) sleeve placket. Mine are far from perfect but I’m very proud of them. I found the placket construction quite clever but had to read the instructions several times and watch a few videos online. I often find Deer and Doe instructions lacking when it comes to the fiddly bits but YouTube has never failed me.

Final thoughts

I’m really pleased with my shirt. As it’s cotton and a light colour, it’s proving to be good for the summer and I suspect it will carry into winter (may need a vest!). It’s not too high maintenance on the ironing front either! Thanks for reading :o)

Greetings! It’s been a while but I’m back to write about a fun make that I recently whipped up over a weekend.

Colour-blocking fun

Grainline’s Linden sweatshirt is one that I’ve made several times and is a great wardrobe staple.

I had the idea of making a colour-blocked version when I spotted these organic brushed back French terry fabrics on The Sewist Fabric Shop website.

I chose complimentary colours – dusky mauve, rose pink and seafoam – which, in hindsight look a bit like a pastel Neapolitan ice cream! Then came the bit where I was able to get the colouring pencils out.

Like a lot of “grown ups”, I embraced colouring-in becoming more popular in recent years and have a healthy collection of pencils at my disposal. A bit like with my button tin, it was pleasing to tip all the pencils out onto my desk and sift through to find the closest match to my fabrics.

I traced the line drawing a few times, got my ruler out and spent a happy hour playing with colour blocking variations. In the end I chose my second design – I can’t really say why, it was just my favourite.

The scientific bit

The next step in the process is where my scientific, super organised brain really came into its own.

I already had a traced set of pattern pieces to my measurements
I traced those existing pieces to replicate each one
For the bodice pieces, I traced full pieces by flipping over at the fold
For the sleeves, I traced a mirrored pair as I wanted to do different blocking on each sleeve
Then I drew lines where the colour blocking would be, approximately aligning with my design
I re-drew a grainline on each section using the parallel lines on my sewing ruler
I also marked a notch across adjoining pieces along the slash lines
I marked what each piece was – e.g. Sleeve 1/bottom/pink, Front bodice/Top/Mauve
Then I cut each piece along the slash lines
Next I had to add the seam allowance (1/4″) onto each piece where they would be joined – so grateful for my sewing ruler!
Finally, I moved the notches to the seam allowance lines

Whilst this sounds quite involved, I really enjoyed thinking it through. I also had a vague memory of a tutorial by Stitch Sisters that I watched a while ago in the back of my mind.

Putting the jigsaw back together

When cutting out, I made sure that I kept each pattern piece with its corresponding fabric piece so I knew what belonged where. To put the jumper jigsaw together, the sleeves were fairly easy. For the bodice pieces, I sewed the bottom pieces together – effectively creating bottom halves – before attaching to the top pieces.

I overlocked each seam and top-stitched the seam allowance down to make the insides neater (and more fun with jazzy thread!). I also added the obligatory label so I know which way around the jumper is on early mornings.