Just finished!

I started this garment last weekend. I worked on it during the week; today I added the sleeves (I’d already put the sleeve plackets in using Pam Erny’s 2-piece placket), serged the seams, top stitched them, sewed the sleeve/side seams, serged those seams, serged the bottom edge and stitched up the hem; made buttonholes, and machine sewed the buttons!

Check out the buttons – all different (if small). Just to highlight the many colours in the fabric. The fabric – a raime – has been in my stash for a number of years – I don’t remember when I bought it from Marcy Tilton (lovely fabrics, but expensive).

I lined the yoke, collar, collar stand and cuffs with a teal silk dupioni. It offers a hidden bit of contrast that nobody but a person who sews garments will notice, but I know it’s there.

I always intended making the raime into some kind of shirt. The question was how to position the pattern pieces on the fabric to get the most out of the print. After playing with pattern placement, I decided to cut the shirt using the width as the grainline (the crossgrain). This meant the garment could be symmetrical, more or less. I broke up the symmetry with the pockets and cuffs – largely because I didn’t have another repeat which would let me mirror the print I used for the front. I also positioned the back so the bold elements near the bottom would centre on the back – didn’t look right when off centre.

I still have another Marcy Tilton fabric in the stash – a “denim lace” which just had my name on it. I’ll cut that out soon to make another shirt/jacket. It’ll look very dressy but I intend wearing it with jeans!

I set up the iPhone tripod so I could take some photos of the shirt. A bit on the big side – more jacket than shirt, but it’ll be fine with a pair of white pants and a t-shirt on a sunny summer day!