Skip to main content

DIY : howdy pardner - pink gingham

DIY – Gingham Shirt

Oh - and please excuse the less than flattering photos...

Another foray into "sewing for me" – a pink gingham structured shirt.

This is another pattern from Vogue.  What can I say – I like familiarity.



The pattern offers multiple variations, which was appealing as well as it being the style that I was looking for.

And here is the finished product (*sigh* back to setting up the camera for selfies).  Ok, it’s not my favourite pair of pants but I’m working on that.



Onto the shirt.  I like it.  It’s not perfect, but it has potential.

On the finished product...

I like contrast cuffs and collar.  I like the shape.  I like the fit in the front.  I like the circumference of the sleeves.

I don’t like the slight tightness in the bust.  I don’t like the length of the sleeve. 

To get to this point, these are the alterations that I had to do to the pattern
- Shorten to correctly place the waistline (therefore shortening the overall length)
- Move the bust apex
- Move the front darts
- Shorten the sleeve length
- Move the back darts
- Make contrast cuffs and collar



So… all the above don’t-likes are pretty much my doing and is fixable on the next version.

Moving the bust apex was a bit of a task, but if I had not done it I really would have looked like a lil' sis borrowing her big sis' work shirt.





I used this tutorial to move the bust dart.  Here's how it worked out on my shirt...

1.  Determine where the bust dart should be (here - moved higher)
2.  Draw a rectangle around the existing dart
3.  Mark where the new dart should sit
4.  Cut out the rectangle and move it (up in this instance)
5.  Fill in the hole with scrap pattern paper
6.  Fold the dart as if sewing and ease cut the seam
7.  Open out the folded dart to get the new pattern shape
8.  Adjust the front dart to end a similar distance as from the original apex
My wearing caveats… There’s something in the sleeve and the back that is bothering me. 

With the sleeve, I’m not sure what range of movement I should be getting with this type of shirt.  I’ve never had a well-fitted shirt before.  It’s a bit annoying when I lift my arms up (say to fix my hair) and the whole shirt is displaced.  Surely, that’s not how this is supposed to move with your body...?

And there’s this bunching in the back.  I’m not sure if the back is too wide.  Or if the back waist placement or the back contouring is not where it should be.

But besides that... (and until I can figure out what is causing these)...

This pattern is a keeper for me.  It’s not at it’s end state for a perfect fit, but I like it enough to work on this one instead of looking for another pattern.


What do you think?  Am I on the right track for a perfect fit?

Labels

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

It's a skill and I need more sleep

Do you tell jokes?  I don't.  Hardly ever anyway.  One - I don't know many jokes. Two - I can't tell jokes.   I stutter the punch lines which ruins it.  Or I'm laughing before I finish telling which, again, ruins it. And three - I have a really BAD sense of humour.    Only my husband gets it.   He gets my humour and reacts.   It's why I married him.     And yes, please note the purposeful use of "reacts" rather than "laugh" because ... yeah ... no ... he doesn't always laugh.  And the times when he does laugh he's usually not laughing at the joke; he's usually laughing at me.   But that's ok because that was the point of the joke - to make him laugh.  Which he does.  Why he's laughing ... well, that's secondary, isn't it? And what about pithy witty comments?   I'm full of them.   Clever, imaginative one-liners.  But, again, it's all in the...
3 comments
Read more

To ice or not to ice?

That is the question... I have a new addiction (surprise, surprise!).  While I still favour Morning Tea and Afternoon Tea and all of its delights, I have recently been replacing the mandatory "tea and cake" with an Iced Tea or an Iced Coffee. These tea delights are so wonderfully refreshing on those hot summer days.  And it satisfies my "drink and sweet" craving in one shot - which saves me on baking time and calorie count (like I do that anyway!). Seriously, I could drink Iced Tea or Iced Coffee all day, but I have limited it to either Morning Tea or Afternoon Tea.  Got to keep it special!  (Hence the continued use of CAPITALS :) ). The best thing is that these drinks are so easy to make at home and, to my taste buds and stomach anyway, are a lot better than most of the ones that you can find in your local cafe.  I can control the strength, the milkiness, the sweetness to suit my picky palate. The other best thing is that I no longer feel the ...
1 comment
Read more

The Hummingbird Bakery Cake Days Cupcakes

I have seriously tried to limit the number of cookbooks in my bookshelf.  Not only is the internet a major source of information (and free at that!), but we just don't have the space. However, there are a few cookbooks that I love having on hand, in person, ready to be flicked through at a moments notice.  And this book - the Hummingbird Bakery Cake Days - is fast becoming one of those books.  I love it even more so as it was a "just because" present from my Dear Husband :) The cover is textured and PINK.  Not just a pastel pretty pink, but a bright-in-your-face PINK!!  There's no mistaking the market for this cookbook.  And the rest of the book follows in its bold use of colors.  This cookbook, for me, provides inspiration by way of baking, photography, and food styling.  Much progress on the first one, not so much on the last two.. oh well, so let's talk about the baking. So far, I've tried two basic recipes - the vanilla cupcakes with van...
3 comments
Read more