Return to Shirt

It has not been quite as long since I made a shirt for me as it has been since I made a skirt like I posted yesterday, but it has been a while since I made a shirt for me from McCall's 5675 (1977)

...now...I am currently nowhere near a size 12, but I realized that, since one of the features of this pattern is the gathered neckline, it would probably work out perfectly fine if I just...added two inches to the centers front and back, increasing things 4" total.  I did that on the fly, by using a see-through ruler to move the pattern center an inch from the fold on both sides.  (Also pictured: why get proper pattern weights when you have so many extra pairs of scissors anyway?)

And it worked!

As with the waistband on the skirt, I pressed the sleeve bands cuffs before sewing them to the sleeves, and I did that before sewing the sleeves to the armscyes. 

 

That's another thing I had not done for a long time, so I had to unpick and flip around and re-sew some parts once I got to the whole "sew the side and sleeve seams" step, because, oh, yeah, I also sewed the bands to the wrong side (intentionally!) so that I could edge stitch them from the outside, instead of dealing with ditch stitching in a way that hopes to catch just the edge of the fold on the side I can't see, like I usually do with bands.  Eventually, I may remember to do this 'backwards' approach to all bands, since it's just so much neater that what I do by default (which is not and probably never will be "hand sew," either.)

 And then I had to unpick and re-sew the cuff underarm seams again, because they ended up being too tight because, oh, hey, the short bell sleeve version of this pattern involves my own sleeve hack, and I probably hadn't made the band long enough to begin with. (I don't think I'd used this pattern since I started this blog in 2014--as slapdash as I am now, I know I was even more slapdash in the past.)

Even though it pains me to use the yardage required, I do like the bias neckband and tie view of this pattern so much that it's the only one I've ever used

although I am admittedly bad at dealing with the ends of those bias ties

Just...not bad enough that it bothers me, especially since this shirt is more of a proof of concept than anything.  I guess normal sewing people would call its a wearable muslin, huh.

I interfaced and serged the facing inside that center front slit

My serger is loaded with random thread right now, so the other side is white and won't show through the fabric as badly as the black thread would. ..~°*°Slapdash°*°~..

  I serged all inside seam allowances and edge stitched the shoulders through all layers.

Most of the time when I made this pattern in the distant past, I shortened the shirt to where the side seams open up, because, one, I didn't think I'd ever want to tuck them in so didn't need the length (and/or: was working with limited yardage and didn't have the length), and, two, sewing curved hems is annoying.  This time, though, I did want things long enough to tuck in, and didn't want to have to deal with figuring out adjustments for hip size on a straight hem, so I went ahead with the curves.

They were annoying.

Most of the annoyance was in the pressing, since I folded over half the seam allowance (estimated) as I pressed, then folded it over and pressed again.  Also: iron too hot, small surprise reminder of synthetic content of the thrifted fabric.

And the back.

Including reminders of how much I generally don't press projects.

I definitely call this a success, and I'm looking forward to being able to make more things to wear with it (dreaming of the day when I can wear jumpers again...)  And, deciding to make a shirt, picking out the fabric and pattern, cutting, and sewing were all completed in a single, unhurried day, which is always nice, too!