ほっぽってた割に、出来栄えには大満足です。
型紙はもう何回も使っているバタリックのB5526番。
布はリバティ社の木綿タナローンです。高級品なのよ～。地元の布屋さんの閉店セールで15％オフでゲットしました。（それでも高級）5種類、２メートルずつ買った中の一つ。
Back in September, a fabric/yarn shop in the nearby town was closing down and having a 15% off everything sale. I had only been there a couple of times, but knew they had a shelf of Liberty fabric so I went down there and bought these 5 prints, 2 meters each. That was a lot of money even with the sale price, but I wanted to get some Liberty while I was in England (when in Rome, right?), so it was a perfect opportunity.
After my fleece jacket, I wanted to start a new sewing project but did not want to buy new fabric because I wasn't sure if I was moving back to the U.S. soon (and still don't know...), so I decided to make a shirt with my precious Liberty stash.
I bought Sewaholic Granville Shirt pattern. I like Sewaholic patterns and I really like all the bells and whistles of traditional shirt components in Granville.
However... Argh, my toile did not go so well. In addition to the sleeve length being too long, the shoulder was too wide, neck too tight, back neck too high and gaping like crazy, cross front too tight, sleeve does not hung right, and my usual sway back.
It needed too many adjustments and would have needed multiple mock-ups, so I gave up. But I really did like the design of Granville.
So I decided to use my Butterick B5526 shirt pattern (princess seam version) and incorporated some of Granville.
At this point, I had made 2 iterations of princess seam version (navy blue and gingham). There were many traced pattern pieces with different size/adjustments mixed up in my manila envelope where I keep all of B5526 traced pattern pieces (I also made 2 iterations of dartless version as well), so I started anew from tracing the pattern pieces from scratch.
I cut a size 10 and shortened the bodice by 1". For the collar and collar stand, I shortened the height of both by 1/4".
One thing I did not like about this pattern was the sleeve. It's so loose but tight at the cuff. Also it only had bias bound sleeve placket instead of a tower placket.
One thing I really liked about Granville was the sleeve (aside from it being too long). It is slimmer fit with no pleats at the cuff. the below photo is the size comparison. The traced Butterick sleeve pattern (size 10) with Granville (size 6) on top. I kept the shoulder curve then merged to Granville sleeve width. The modified sleeve pattern piece is 1" shorter than the original.
I lengthened the cuff piece to match the sleeve (though sleeve pieces is modified to be narrower, with no pleats, Granville is wider at the cuff) and used the Granville's tower placket piece. I like the wide cuff opening: it goes over my rather chunky watch (Baby G).
Before I started sewing, I re-watched the 2 Craftsy shirt making classes: Janet Pray's "Sew Better Sew Faster: Shirtmaking" and Pam Howard's "Classic Tailored Shirt." While the two classes have very different methodology, both classes have been very valuable to me.
I was going to mock-flatfell the inside seams, finishing the seams with serger and topstitching it down, but then my serger broke... :( The timing went completely wrong and I just don't know what to do. Anyway, without the serger, I was forced to finish the seams with sewing machine so I manned up and did the real flatfelled finish. I guess it's worth putting that extra effort for a pricey Liberty fabric.
I used "pro-woven shirt crisp" interfacing from Fashion Sewing Supply for the outer collar and cuff and "pro-sheer Elegance light" for collar and cuff facing. I thought the "shirt crisp" was too heavy for this tana lawn while I was sewing, but I'm glad I stuck to it. I think I like crisp collar and cuff (as long as they are not too tight).
I will put the collar and collar stand pattern to their original size next time. I still have bit of a wrinkle at the upper bust coming out of the arm hole and the sleeves are wrinkly, but I can live with them; it's beyond my pattern alteration skill plus I hate fitting and adjusting.
I think I will go ahead and make another Liberty shirt next since my serger is out of order.