The same but slightly different

Those of you with good memories might remember seeing this fabric from last year's post where I made a short sleeved Kalle shirt from the same fabric. I loved the fabric so much, I bought some more! I think it was under £7 a metre from the Cloth Spot.

As it's winter, I decided to make a long sleeved shirt and chose...the Deer and Doe Melilot. Again! There is a bit of dodgy sewing here and there but the 'exuberance' of the print hides almost all mistakes, so just for the fun of it, I'll point some of them out to you just to show that you can love a garment that isn't perfect. And yes, I do love this shirt.

I could do better when turning the edges of the cuffs. The wrong side is definitely showing by quite a lot. As I said, the print hides a multitude of sins!

The collar isn't my best sewing ever. Again I can see the under collar peeping out. I've got into the habit of sewing a button/buttonhole just under the collar stand to stop gaping in this area but there's still a little gaping here. I don't like that sugary pink colour so near my face. Just being picky here but obviously should have been more picky when I cut the upper collar piece from the fabric.

I love the little fish eye buttons, though. I usually buy 10 shirt buttons and also buy plain black shirt buttons when I come across them. I think I bought these from Edinburgh Fabrics where you can still buy buttons individually, from plastic tubes with screwtop lids. Construction was done on the overlocker and sewing machine.

And here's how I normally wear the shirt. Standing in the 'Naught Corner'! Ha ha! I'm trying not to wear black too much as it becomes a uniform and I just love the wine colour.

A Melilot shirt in dark floral

And the sewing of tried and tested patterns continues! I thought after the last couple of posts 'showcasing' very plain, but necessary winter tops, I'd show you something sightly more interesting. I love the Deer and Doe Melilot shirt pattern and have sewn it up many times in both the long and short sleeved versions. There will be more in the future too.

For this version, I used a bright floral pattern on a black background 100% viscose. I think this was bought from Guthrie and Ghani well before Christmas. I doubt there's any left now!

I wanted to 'streamline' the sewing of the sleeve plackets so I cut a 2" wide strip of fabric on the bias and just bound the edges of the sleeve placket cut. Sorry I haven't got any photos of this. It worked beautifully and after a press, sits flat as it should do. I find pressing and sewing the tiny hems on the plackets very fiddly to do and always end up steam pressing my fingers. I had to do something to improve this construction!

The buttons are plain black ones from Edinburgh Fabrics. It's difficult finding plain, black buttons for shirts. Or indeed shirt buttons suitable for women's shirts. Why is this?

Here's how I wear it at work, with a cardigan over it. Explains the creases after wearing it for 5 hours!

Shirts beautiful shirts!

...and I'm back! It's been such a long time since I blogged but I've still been sewing. I just don't like taking photos in winter and then get out of the habit altogether. So what have I been sewing? Lots and lots of duplicates. I seem to be on a shirt marathon at the moment. I love a good shirt! Especially the Deer and Doe Melilot. I've made lots of short and long sleeves versions but I'll restrict the fun today to the long sleeved ones. And reveal my latest addiction. To Clothspot. I found a link to them on the Diary of a Chain Stitcher's blog and of course clicked through, keen to find out about a new online fabric shop. It's marvellous! All the fabric I've bought from them is lovely, good quality and reasonably priced. Also, they have a lot of breathable fibres and also some good bottom weight fabrics that can be difficult to find. I've found that if I order before lunch, they'll post it out that afternoon and I usually get the fabric the next day. Brilliant! Nope, they haven't paid me to endorse their products etc.

Back to the shirts. This first one I call my 'Semaphore shirt' because it looks like lots of tiny semaphore flags. I bought this from...yes it was Clothspot. It's a lovely, medium weight opaque viscose that drapes beautifully. The buttons were from my button tin and are the same size but different shades of  dark mud. Whatever the colour, they're craftily hidden by the semaphore print. Along with the wonky stitching on the sleeve placket that you can't see even in the close-up below. Result!

I think I added an inch to the body length of the shirt and probably 2 cms to the sleeve length #sewingtall. I was feeling they needed a little more length and I think this was a good call. I'll do the same for future versions. Let's face it, I'm not going to stop my personal 'Melilot factory'. I love when I get the adjustments right and can just run off another garment without adjusting.

This green cotton lawn version I made with a fabric from John Lewis. I think it was about £16 a metre and not quite 150cms wide when I bought it last year. The colour in the above photo is true to life, the close up below is just weird! Anyone noticed how the fabric department in John Lewis Edinburgh store has plummeted downhill? I rarely go now, there's no incentive of great fabric to make the journey worthwhile. 

Anyway, this version was made before the semaphore version and obviously before the lengthening adjustments. It doesn't stop me wearing it as I love the print and the colour. Why is it so difficult to find green fabric?

Coming shortly, the black corduroy quilted jacket, perfect for the Scottish summer!

Fashionably dark floral Melilot shirt

Ah, this is definitely my favourite shirt pattern ever, the Deer and Doe Melilot! I even have yet another one cut out at home so you'll see that one soon. It was interesting playing around with the pattern placement on that one! But anyway, back to this dark floral one which is apparently very 'on trend' for autumn winter. That'll be a first!

The fabric was from Edinburgh Fabrics and I suspect it's 100% polyester. But it's an acceptable polyester. Some are not. It was quite easy to work with and seems to take a pressing very well. Anyway I bought the fabric without having a plan in my head about what to make with it. I just knew I had to have the fabric.

I used lightweight iron on charcoal interfacing and the buttons were salvaged from my button tin. The sleeve buttons are different from the front buttons. The seams were for the most part sewn on my overlocker but my new sewing machine was used sometimes too. It does really good buttonholes!

This time I followed the instructions and sewed the hem before sewing up the side seams and the finish is good. It keeps the hem beautifully curved. And that's about all I have to say about this new shirt except that it gets washed and worn almost weekly and because it's polyester it doesn't need ironing. What a marvellous shirt!

Short sleeved Melilot shirt...in some kind of animal print

And underneath the wonderful orangey-red raincoat from last week, I was wearing my new obsession, the short sleeved Deer and Doe Melilot shirt. The orangey-red blobs seem to match perfectly with the colour of the raincoat (unintentional!). 

I bought the fabric from Mandors in Glasgow earlier this year. It's a lovely cotton poplin pique with not too much, not too little, just the right amount of stretch to it. 

I've already made a pencil skirt (unblogged) from this fabric and had enough to experiment by making this too. Try something new, I say! I won't be wearing them together, that would just be too much and I suspect this shirt will be washed and worn to shreds long before the skirt. I used black buttons from my button tin so the shirt really cost me very little. 

I absolutely love it! And the bonus is that I can button the collar up too, if I want to. With my swimmer's shoulders/arms/neck that usually isn't possible without potentially damaging my health. This rounded collar is the perfect size to wear buttoned up all day, if I want to.

The kimono sleeves mean there's no setting in of the sleeves and no cuff placket to sew, although there is a sleeve cuff. Even with the intricacies of a collar to sew up, this was a fairly fast sew, all things considered. I have to say it helps if you've already got the adjustments perfected from a previous version. This is a 'new thing' for me to try, a new shape and with the buttoned up collar, something I never thought would suit me, but I think it does. I absolutely love it! There will be more...

A paisley patterned Deer and Doe Melilot...what's not to love!

Ah, dear readers, I do love a good paisley patterned anything! And when I already had the fabric how could I not buy the Melilot pattern I'd been hankering after for ages and pay for it to be posted from France. All money well spent, in my opinion, for this lovely, neat, round collared, potentially-kimono-sleeved shirt with long and short sleeved options.

So I bought the fabric, a lovely printed viscose, from Mandors in the September 2016 haul. I like how the background colour is more of a beige than an off-white. That's if you can see the background among  the print. You know what I mean. This allowed me to use some buttons from my tartan button tin. My mum recently gave me some of her buttons so it's now nearly brimming over and that's just the way I like it! I used 8 matching buttons on the front and then 2 different buttons for the cuffs. No-one will ever know but see if you can spot the difference from the photos.

I can't actually remember what size I cut but I did a Full Bust Adjustment that made the existing dart a little bit bigger and maybe I dropped the dart a little, I can't remember because I have washed and worn this constantly since I finished it. The sign of a good shirt, in my book! I also added 2" to the length of the body.

The instructions are good. The front button/hole plackets form part of the front pattern pieces so you have to slow down and cut the correct width of interfacing. I used a lightweight charcoal iron-on throughout this shirt as the viscose has a good drape to it. You also have to get the tape measure out so you accurately turn the plackets back by the correct amount. It's a discipline I'm not used to after decades of sewing. It's good to be challenged, though!

I really like the curved shirt hems although I didn't finish the back hem and front hems before sewing the side seams as the pattern instructs you to do. I was a bit wary as this was the first time I'd made this shirt. All the other seams in the shirt are French seams which again, is a discipline in slowing down and sewing accurately. It takes more time but it's very good for fine fabrics whose sole purpose in life is to fray before your very eyes. Like this one.

The only thing I would say is that I'm aware of the bulk of the French seamed sleeve seams when I'm wearing this shirt. I'm pointing out where the seam is in the above photo. Next time, I'll sew these as a 'normal' seam and overlock the edges, or maybe just overlock the seams, just depends on the fabric, I suppose. Yes I will make this again and already have the fabric, matching thread and pattern sitting in my sewing queue. I've decided to make the short sleeved version so I guess I'll need to make another long sleeved version to test my theory about the sleeve seams. Right, I'd better go! Till the next time, have a great weekend and let me know what your thoughts are on the Melilot. Have you sewn it? Want to sew it? Don't like the sleeve seams too?