A hint of spring with a shirt full of flowers

Hi everyone and I wish I could say that spring was here in Edinburgh but...it's not! I've seen tiny snowdrops, the odd minute crocus and the best thing of all, it's getting lighter in the mornings now (hurray!) but it's still cold. Enter stage left a very flowery shirt just to cheer up the spirits.

I bought the fabric a few weeks ago from the sale in John Lewis in Edinburgh and paid about £8 a metre. I bought my usual 2 metres. This is a 100% viscose fabric but it's quite fine. I used my favourite shirt pattern ever, McCalls 6436 that I've made here, here and here and will doubtless make again in the future! There's a real addiction to this pattern going on here and I'm not giving it up! It's great to have a properly fitting shirt. The sleeves are long enough for me, the back fits perfectly across my broad back and the body length is just right. No flashing my bare back when I bend over!

I had a look through my button tin but couldn't find anything I really liked. There were plenty of OK buttons but nothing that managed to make its presence felt in amongst all these flowers! So I actually bought some. That's something I haven't done for a long time.

There is a pattern repeat but I didn't bother matching this when I cut it out. Who's going to notice? I applied iron-on interfacing to both pieces of the collar stand and collar just to give it the perfect 'body' to stand up properly but without being too stiff. I finished the shirt on Sunday and wore it to work on Monday. The sign of success! It's now 'in the wash'. These photos were (obviously!) taken at night when I got home and after a day wearing the shirt so because it's viscose there are wrinkles but...I don't care! And you can't see them in among the flowers. What do you think? A bit of brightness for a late winter's day? Do you wear colour to pep yourself up a bit?

Random squares blouse

This is another garment I sewed when I was on holiday and finished about a week ago. There is no decent daylight to photograph it so I've tried to light it as best I can but...you know, indoor photos! Anyway, we have about 7 hours of 'daylight' here in Edinburgh but what we see is cloud all the time and rain. Lots of rain! 

So back to the shirt I made using my beloved McCalls pattern 6436. 

I bought the fabric from John Lewis just before Christmas and just before it went half price in the post Christmas sales. I think I paid £12 a metre for it and I bought my usual 2 metres. But I don't care that it almost immediately went in the sale because...look at all the random squarely-ness!

And the best bit of all was finding square black buttons in my button tin. I didn't have enough to do the cuffs as well but I found two slightly smaller square buttons that are absolutely fine. I didn't do any buttonhole or button on the collar stand because I never do these up. Here's a closeup of the cuff with square buttons. 

It also shows how the two piece sleeve construction is used to avoid the need for sewing a pesky tiresome placket. Don't like doing those fiddly things and this is a much better solution! 

There are two darts in the back which provide some lovely shaping to the blouse. You might be able to see the square buttons better in this photo:

This fabric is a polyester and quite fine and drapery. I really didn't know how it would work out with this shirt but it's good. I used a fine fusible interfacing for the cuffs, front bands and added interfacing to both collar pieces and collar stand pieces so they wouldn't droop. That worked out well. 

Cutting out the pattern and just working with such a fine fabric was a bit of a challenge but it's worked out well and I'm pleased with it. There are more finished garments to be blogged! Signing off from a rainy, dark, cold, dismal Edinburgh...

Coral and cobalt blue blouse

This is just soooo 2015, darling! A blast from the past...but good to give it the blog post it truly deserves! This is actually a blouse I sewed up quite a few weeks ago, maybe at the end of November, and I've washed and worn it quite a few times. The sign of a successful sew!

This pattern, McCalls 6436, is now officially my favourite shirt pattern because I love the two piece sleeve which means I don't have to sew any tedious cuff plackets. Win! I also like the fact it has separate button plackets you have to sew on. I also made this blouse once before and love that version too.

I bought the fabric from MisanTextiles (not to be confused by Misan Fabrics which is also on the same street) in Berwick Street in London when we went on a wee holiday in early November. It's a lovely weight of viscose and was a remnant or in their sale in their lovely basement which is chock full of bargains. Just have a rummage! There was about 1.8 metres or 2 metres, I can't remember. Enough to make me a shirt using this pattern so I nabbed the whole length for £10. Result!

The buttons were from my tartan stash tin and all other notions from my stash. I enjoy rummaging through my button tin to see if there are any buttons that'll be perfect fro whatever I'm working on at that time. It's surprising how often I find something though!

I cut this version shorter in the body as it's exceedingly long if you cut it straight from the pattern. Too long even on me! I think I shortened the body by 6cm but it's so long since I made it I can't remember.

Happy New Year to you all and keep watching. There will be more posts coming. Back to work on Tuesday but plenty more sewing to show you. Until then...

At last! A new shirt

How has your weekend been? I'm going back to work tomorrow after two weeks of annual leave. Ah well, all good things have to come to an end! I managed to sew up a new shirt, something that's been on my 'To Do' list for a wee while. I really like my new shirt.

Yep, it's very floral! and full of unusual-for-me colours like acid yellow and full-on red. Thankfully they're scattered around the floral design in a manageable amount for me!

I decided I needed a new shirt pattern, just something a little bit different from the last shirt I made. Actually, it's the only shirt I've made since I restarted sewing so it's about time I made another one. I want to have a few go-to patterns I could sew a variety of shirts from depending on the fabric. If the fabric is patterned, I want a shirt that has darts for shaping, not panels. For plain fabrics, I'm happy with princess seams for shaping and to add some interest to a garment.


So after having a good look around I chose McCalls 6436 which includes separate pattern pieces for different cup sizes. I made view D, there was no point adding pockets, they'd just get lost in all the flowers! This is an excellent pattern and I thoroughly enjoyed making this shirt. I tissue fit the pattern pieces to me so the only adjustment I made was to lower the bust dart by 1". Apart from that, I sewed it up as per the pattern. This pattern comes out big, I cut out a size smaller than my measurements indicated, but it's still come out roomy. To be fair, the description on the envelope does say it's loose fitting.

As luck would have it, I found the right buttons in my button tin. I had enough for the front but not enough to do the two cuffs, so used two black buttons of a different style. I tried different coloured buttons but the black were the best, they didn't fight with the pattern!

The fabric is a 100% viscose that I bought from Remnant Kings in Edinburgh. It's a lovely weight and more dense and heavier than other viscose I've used before. I used a single layer of soft iron-on interfacing for the button/buttonhole bands down the front and for the collar I used two layers of soft iron-on interfacing to get the right weight. I'm really happy with how the collar has turned out, it's make-or-break part of any shirt.

 Shaping is by two bust darts in the front and two fish-eye (?) darts in the back. This gives the right amount of shape and removes any danger of a shapeless sack, thank goodness!

There are two piece sleeves which I've never come across before in shirts. The seam joining the two parts together stops a good 3" before the edge. This slit means you don't have to sew a placket (hurray!) at the cuff. I really love that detail. I'm not sure if you can actually see any of this in the photo but here it is. There's a pleat on either side of the cuff opening.

 Remember how I said that I didn't make any adjustments to the pattern except to lower the bust dart? Well, if you're thinking of making up this pattern I will say that I'm 5'9" tall and this shirt comes out loooooong. So much so that when I came to hem it I cut off 9cm in length from the body. 9cm!!! I recut the hemline using the pattern pieces. The next time I make it, I'll be reducing the body length by 9cm...*does double take*...shortening the length...weird for me!

So, have you got 'pattern plans'? Or maybe a shirt in the pipeline? You can't really go wrong with this pattern, it's a winner and I'll definitely be making it again.