It’s done! After slogging through my pattern adjustments on Simplicity 2601 (see my first round of alterations here), I managed to get a wearable shirt! The fabric was delicate, prone to fraying and unfortunately, easily torn with exuberant seam ripping. Also, it was impossible to topstitch. And it was slightly crinkly. Despite ALL of that, I love the finished product! Here’s my wobble-headed posing (and yes, that’s the cherry cord fabric… I’ll get to that in a separate post!)
When I last left this shirt, I had done an FBA which yielded a giant shirt that hit my bustline in the wrong spot. After hemming and hawing, I realized a major part of my problem was that I had added width to the midriff piece towards the center front. This made the angled part of the midriff band slope more gently across my body. I closed up my first adjustment and added the width to the narrow part of the midriff band. Much better. Here’s my super-fly illustration. 
I made another muslin, which somehow ended up being WAY tight. This might have been due to bad cutting, bad foundation garments, bad muslin material. Who can say? I had cut out about 2 inches of width from the midriff band for muslin #2, even though muslin #1 had seemed to have a good five inches too much of ease! I added a smidge back in for my final version – it fits fine, actually a bit on the large side. And I realized that foundational garments have a huge impact on fit of this shirt! Here’s a closeup of me wearing the shirt with a more supportive, well made brassiere…
And here we are with a cheap, non-supportive undergarment…
Foxy, huh?
Constructing the shirt was sort of fun. I serged most of the main seams – shoulders, sides, midriff and midriff lining. I did a rolled hem on the serger for the hem and the sleeves. The pattern instructions have a rather cool finishing using single fold bias tape (I’ve always wondered what that stuff was good for!) that would have been PERFECT with a less difficult to sew fabric. This fabric is thin, stretchy and not super stable. No nice crisp edges or fine topstitching here! It worked well enough, though. Here’s a shot of the shirt inside out – 
And here’s a closeup of the sleeve – showing off the hem! AND the bad topstitching!
The whole button area was a bit labor intensive. There are loops and an underlap – lots of layers to press and stitch to get under control. I was also a bit anxious over the buttons and loops – someone had mentioned online that she’d recently made this shirt and it didn’t stay shut. I can totally see that happening, and I wanted to make sure my loops were tight enough. I used 1/2” self-fabric buttons and the pattern called for 3/8” buttons and 2 inch lengths for the loops. Even though my buttons were a bit larger, I tested a few loops and found that the best size for total security was closer to 1.75 inches. The loops are HARD to get around the buttons – but I can actually put this on over my head if I’m careful!
I love the look of self-fabric buttons! And sloppy topstitching…
Here’s a shot of the button, loop and underlap all undone…
All in all, a fine shirt. The first button up shirt I’ve ever donned that I actually liked! I can see making more of these, even though they’re a bit more labor intensive.
So, in closing, here’s a few more pictures with the shirt mixed with different styles of skirts and jeans. The shape is super versatile for me – I can even tuck it in fairly well! First we have the summer look… sigh. Will my legs ever have color in them again?
It works fairly well with a full circle skirt as well! I love this skirt, but it’s a bit large with a narrow waistband, not a look that works with many things on top! This shirt just covers it all up…
And here’s my pinup, forth of july pose. Because this shirt is clearly asking very nicely to be worn with jeans and wedgies. Where’s my sparkler and hot dog??
So cute! I could totally see this extended into a dress.
Your shirt is perfect! I love the fabric with this style, the fit is great, and the loops with fabric covered bottom are the cherry on top, so to speak!
LOVE this blouse! I love the button loops and covered buttons AND bias binding inside? oh swoon 🙂 It looks FABULOUS on you…I adore the last photo with the jeans–though it's such a versatile blouse! I love that you can wear it with everything!
Wow, this is great! I love how the serging on the hems looks, as if you used bias binding or piping. Great job.
I love your blouse! It looks great with all the different looks. Have a great weekend!
I love how this shirt turned out. You have inspired me to try the same pattern.
OMG! You are cute as a button! I love this top with both the cherry and the white skirt. This is one of those patterns that I keep pulling out of the file box, think about how much work it would be to fit and do the buttons, then put back in the file box. You have inspired me to actually get working on it!
looks great and is totally complementary to the curves you got. my fav is with that full skirt it just brings that waistline right IN.
Your shirt is adorable. I love all the looks.
Hi Patty. This is a lovely shirt, it suits you very well ! Great job!
You're so right about foundation garments, it makes such a difference. Especially with gathered bustlines like that. The jacket I'm working on right now has the same type of gathers and it is quite tricky to figure out the fit, I pretty much have to figure out what type of bra I'd wear with it first. Thanks for sharing !
The combo is absolutely gorgeous on you….Great job
Very pretty, your shirt turned out great! Now I have to make one of these 🙂
Miss Patty! Don't you just look peachy keen! That shirt looks great and I think you might have sold me on it. And thanks for the tip on the mid-riff modification.
As for single-fold bias tape I am actually using some to finish the arm and neck holes for my daughter's blouse. What I'm not referring to as "The Candy Stripe Valentines".
I adore this blouse! You've done amazing work on all the details and styling. And it looks great with any of the bottoms you've chosen.
How cute is that ?
Very.
Best,
Elise
Great job! You look great in every combination!
Ok, I totally swear I had commented about how awesome this was blah blah blah can't wait to hear about the cherries… Probably another casualty of the open-ID errors I was getting left and right earlier this week… Anyway, looks awesome, can't wait to hear about the cherries! 😉
This is really adorable. I love it with all your pairings!
I'm in love! The cherry skirt, the red checked shirt, it's perfect. I just discovered your blog and I love it! I even thought of visiting Sewtropolis next week when I go to the big city, but alas you're not open on Mondays.