Once upon a time, I managed to be in a Walmart at the right time to get a mill end precut of some white cotton swiss dot. I figured it would eventually become a shirt (or two), but there were no clear plans. I picked up Simplicity 7233, with eyes on view 2, a bit over a year ago at the craft thrift store, but it took a while to connect the cloth with the potential of the pattern.
Then I put the pattern in the "To Do, Maybe" box and ignored it for months.
And while I have very much been having fun recently making girlie print menswear shapes, or tweedy skirts, I decided I'd go ahead and make this shirt--which involved raiding my lace and trim stash for suitable froufrouness
When I say froufrou, I mean froufrou
I would not go so far as to say this in any way qualifies as lolita, even understanding how broadly reaching that category of fashion can be...uh...within its limits. Anyway.
I raided my lace and trim stash, knowing I didn't have a lot that was white. I used just about every bit of what I had in suitable kinds of lace and trim (with apologies to the nice white raschel laces I also have, and an "I'll keep you in mind for later" to some venise lace.)
All of the eyelet was salvaged from thrifted bed linens. The cluny was a gift. The ribbon I put into the cluny was still on the spool, but I suspect it was also a gift. The little bit of venise lace I cut apart to put on the collar was from back when Walmart had mill end precuts of lace and trim, in varying qualities. I can't remember what I made with the rest of it, but I'd had the last two motifs kicking around the lace stash forever...partly because one of the motifs had never been complete.
I figured out I could place it so that the missing part would be within the seam allowance
and placed the other one similarly. They also turned out to be very nice for covering up the way I bunched up the top of the cluny around those sharper curves on the ends. Curves that aren't in the pattern; I rounded the collar off right after cutting the pieces out. (The cuffs, too.)
The eyelet on either side of the placket was not in the plan when I started the project, but I felt like the front would be conspicuously plain--within the definitions of of EGL--without something there.
This eyelet was one wide, double-sided piece with floral embroidery in the center, salvaged from one side of the end of a pillowcase. I apologized to the flowers and cut the whole piece in half lengthwise, tapering the ends on the lower cut sides so they would disappear into the seams without any need to hem the lace. (Which is what I also did with the collar and cuff lace)
I had four of these floral shank buttons that I decided were at least a little over the top, so used those on the visible front. The button hidden under the collar is a plain two-hole style.
I quickly learned that the Walmart precuts might not necessarily be mill ends, and sometimes are there because of one or more flaws in the fabric. In this case, there are two small black blips in the fabric. They will be hidden by being tucked in, so I didn't worry about re-cutting this piece, even though there's plenty more of this fabric (which I'll probably use to make something more Typically Me.)
Simplicity 7233 has a fold-back facing, which I did not want to do with this because it's so sheer that the facing would be extremely visible, so I decided to do a placket. That decision meant I also decided to add a collar band, since the original configuration was what would have hidden the collar seam allowance. I mean, it's not like I hadn't already made the collar super bulky, right? What's a few more layers, in the name of hiding seam allowances.
Most of the layers that added bulk to the collar were repeated on the cuffs
so, without a band, I used snaps there
I gathered all of the eyelet with the ruffler foot. I basted it to the interfaced part of the collar at about ¼"/6mm from the edge, then sandwiched the ruffles inside the collar pieces and sewed them together. Then spent a while picking out those stitches and redistributing the ruffles more evenly. For the cuffs, I sewed the gathered eyelet to the interfaced side at ½"/12mm, making the effort to keep the gathers relatively flat as that basting stitch was sewn. Since the basting stitch was so close to the proper seam, there wasn't much room for the ruffles to shift when sewn to the other half of the cuff. Things did shift a little, but not as badly as the collar ruffle.
I skipped french seams and just serged the exposed seam allowances, since the serger was already loaded with white thread.
There weren't many exposed seams. This fabric presses beautifully, so all of my "press the edge over before it gets anywhere near being sewn to anything else" habits were a breeze.
One of the distinguishing design elements of this pattern is that the bust fullness is gathered into the shoulder with three pleats. They're supposed to be stitched a few inches before releasing, but I left them completely loose.
This pattern is size 12 and I technically wear 14, but this pattern is also from 1985 so it finishes at 42"/107cm across the chest. I still felt like leaving those pleats completely soft would keep the fullness as full as possible.
Now, technically, I could also add some lacing to the back and it would not be too much for lolita style, but I think that, if I ever do wear this, it will absolutely be a layering piece...if only to obscure how sheer the fabric is. "If I wear it" is still a big question, but it was fun to make!
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