High-low hem shirt

This is a shirt I made just in the short bursts of time I had after work last week, and also on Sunday afternoon. It just proves how productive you can be with small amounts of time. I think this is a relatively new pattern, New Look 6374. I've recently thrown out a RTW shirt in a similar design although it didn't have the high-low hem. I wasn't sure about high-low hems on me but I'm becoming a convert with this shirt and the recent jersey top I made.

Gathers at the back yoke

Marvel at the intricate placket and topstitching!

Nope, you can't see anything at all of the structure of this shirt because of the patterned fabric, but it's the structure that makes it sit and hang nicely. There is a single layered front and back yoke, joined with a shoulder seam. there are gathered sections where the front yokes join the front shirt pieces. Same at the back.

There's a small grand-dad type collar and a placket at the front. This placket was probably the trickiest thing about this blouse and I made sure I'd sewn it carefully before clipping to any dots. Doing that sort of thing before sewing just makes me come out in a cold sweat so I tend to do things my way! Don't you sometimes think, with pattern instructions, that they sound good on paper, perfectly logical to follow, but in reality you just know there's a minefield waiting for you if you go down their route? It's easy to create a perfect drawing but that's just not what happens in real life.

Anyway, enough with the words and on with the sewing. The sleeves are meant to be worn rolled up and there's a button tab to hold them up. The sleeves have a 1.5cm hem turned up twice and machined. Nothing fancy there but I made sure I made them long enough so I could also wear them rolled down if the weather was cooler. I think I added an inch to the sleeve hem.

Very satisfyingly I also found the perfect buttons from my button tin. They're a sort of caramel coloured wood. Black ones just disappeared in this pattern. What doesn't disappear against this pattern! Speaking of pattern, I'd say it a cross between very large fingerprints and a kind-of animal print, in a sort of cream, beige, black and caramel. So there you go! Very me.

It's a 100% polyester, nothing fancy! I bought it in John Lewis when lurking the sales fabrics a month or so ago. This wasn't in the sale but I couldn't give a monkeys! This is a shirt to wash and wear is intended for work for autumn/winter and let's face it, probably spring too. I didn't prewash it before cutting and frankly if it does shrink I'm not sure I'd notice as it's quite roomy. Well, all except one place, the back yolk seam. That's probably because there's a seam joining the yolk and back piece, then I top-stitched it so the seam is very firm. What do you mean you can't see the top-stitching?!

With the sleeves unrolled it's almost got a bit of a seventies-vibe going on as the sleeves don't come in towards the cuff, creating a bit of a bell shaped sleeve. Here's a side view of the all-important high-low hem.

All in all, I really like this shirt. As a note to anyone out there who's thinking of making this shirt, I'd like to point out that I did not add any extra length to the body. I'm 5'9" tall just so you can get an idea of how the pattern sews up.

I've bought a tripod so I can take photos without bothering C all the time. This was my first time using it and it took me a bit of time to get it set up right but I'm pleased with these photos. Just need to get started with Gillian at Crafting a Rainbow's six month-long The Better Pictures Project. Just so you know, I took these last Sunday so that was before this project started. A better background would be good and the first challenge is to find a nearby location 5 minutes from your house. Shouldn't be too difficult...famous last words!