Project number two of the fall wardrobe contest is COMPLETED!! I moved on to New Look 6808, a cute little shirt with basic shaping and a nice little bow… here’s the finished version!
I picked this pattern because I thought it looked pretty and basic, but still had a shape. I don’t have a lot of shirts in general, being drawn to stretchy tank tops in the summer and ribbed turtlenecks in the winter. I wasn’t quite sure about this one – I thought it might make me look blocky. I’m reasonably happy with the results.
I had a particular problem with the fit. I made three muslins. The first was alright, but needed more room across the hips and needed the bust/darts dropped about an inch. The second was better, but had a serious puddling in the small of the back which caused a lot of confusion. The back was just one piece with two two-ended darts, and the puddling was BETWEEN the darts – it looked great when I cut a straight line up the center back from the hem to the widest part of the darts. To fix, I decided to add a center back seam, so I could add in a wedge where I needed it. The finished product lies very nicely –
The real focus of this particular project was details. I wanted to learn a few new things and make the inside look perfect!! For seam finishing, I used french seams on the straight seams – sides, shoulders and arms. I pinked the horizontal darts and just sewed some double fold bias tape around the sleeve seams (where I connected the arms to the bodice…)
I ended up using the gold brocade I’ve used on other projects for the sleeve and arm facings and on the underside of the collar.
I also put a little button right at the point of the little vent on the sleeve – I couldn’t get it to turn cleanly (bad sewing skills, again) and had to snip the stitches and then sew the seam with a couple of hand stitches. It wasn’t perfect looking, so I found these little covered buttons in my stash to hide my sloppy work.
For the hems, I did a blind catchstitch on the shirt hem, and a slipstitch on the sleeve facing. I’m not sure what I think of the results, especially with the sleeve facing. You CAN see it from the outside, and I don’t know if I thought sewing it on the machine, like the instructions suggested, would be TOTALLY home-made looking. Jury’s still out.
The detail I spent the most time on and was the happiest with was the zipper! I used Gertie’s method of inserting the hand-picked lapped zipper – I used the same gold brocade to make the placket and LOVED the results – I didn’t realize how much it would show! I also wanted to do an underflap – partially because I think they look cool and partially because I kept having a visceral reaction to my wild imaginings of zippered up side flesh! To make the underflap, I cut a piece of grosgrain ribbon I had on hand (7/8″ wide) the length of the zipper. Then I cut a piece of the brocade about three and a half times wider than the ribbon – between three and for inches. I folded over one edge and ironed, then sewed the unironed side to the ribbon, wrapped the ribbon and the just ran the sewing machine over the folded over edge. I turned under the ends a couple of times for a finished look and sewed down with the machine. I also stabilized away – I did a couple of strips of iron on interfacing on the edges of the garment before I even started. I used sew-in interfacing on the placket. Here’s a picture of the zipper to get an idea of the finished product…
So now for a few different looks – not all so different, I actually think the shirt could be a little more versatile if I shorten it by a few inches. But here it is a few different ways!
I love your top! I thought the buttons on the sleeve vent were a beautiful addition to the top and not something to cover a mistake. You did a great job and it looks really nice on you. I have this pattern but I haven't gotten to it yet.
Cute top! This color is so much better than the pink on the pattern cover! Nicely done!
Gelbean – I'm sort of with you on the buttons – I thought the v-slash was a little funky looking (in not a good way) – a little homemade, perhaps? i was thinking of doing a two button thing with a loopy or something to make it look a little more intentional, but then when I had problems turning that corner and found those little buttons in my stash this seemed like the perfect solution!!
Lovely shirt… what type of fabric did you use?