I’ve a week off work and I’ve set myself a sewing target. At the beginning of the year I thought that it would be a great idea to make my partner a shirt. I’d seen the ideal fabric – both by Robert Kaufman, a green science based theme for the shirt with the yoke lining displaying the periodic table; both were bought from Crafty Baba.
The pattern came from the second Sewing Bee book and I admit to starting in a bit of a rush. I have never sewn a shirt before and this seemed a good ‘entry level’ pattern as it has a flat collar and no cuffs (which I understand are the more tricky bits) but it does have a yoke and sewn on button bands which I thought would stretch me a bit. I really enjoyed the yoke process but once it was complete the realisation hit me that I had not checked the sizing with my partner – this was after all to be a surprise present – and that it looked a bit big. So, on his birthday I delivered the idea of a shirt, made up a toile and it soon became clear that whilst the body was a bit large the armscye was too small. Going down a size would sort out the general sizing but I could find no info about how to increase an armscye in any of my books nor on the internet (I’m still struggling with this so if you have any tips I’d love to hear them).
And there I left it, the shirt stayed on the dress form for almost 6 months. So this week I aim to compete the shirt. I have taken measurements from a favorite shirt and will rework the toile, I have lengthened the armscye and redrafted the sleeve. Feels like I’m winging this and I’ll let you know how it goes!
80redbows 