I made a shirt for The Child in 2018, from a Robert Kaufman tossed money print. The shirt has long since been outgrown, but still hangs in the closet. I was going through all of the too-small clothes that The Child will not let go of, and, when I got to that one, a certain wistfulness was expressed by said Child.
I hopped on the Joann site and saw that they did still have it in stock! And on deep sale! (This was in December, when everything is traditionally on deep sale.) I ordered enough to make a long sleeve shirt in The Child's current size, and in two weeks, the order...got cancelled due to lack of stock.
The Child was disappointed, although it was mixed with the habitual sarcasm, so I didn't worry too much about not being able to get it.
I went to a Joann on Sunday for something else (which they did not have, despite the site saying they did), and checked the novelty print cottons--there was a little of the money print left in stock in the store! Not much, though--1.6 yards, according to the cutting ticket. It was at a slight discount, and I got another 10% off for finishing off the bolt, so that was nice.
I got home and serged the ends and added it to a load of laundry. I set about cutting it that night, and was able to squeeze almost all of the pieces for a short sleeve version from it, needing only a bit of another fabric for the inside of the back yoke.
I sewed it completely Monday, and not in a rush.
...which is something I probably never thought I would be able to do, if asked around the time I made the first shirt from this print.
I made that first shirt with a Burda pattern, which was, I believe, also the first Burda I ever sewed, having previously thought that Burda patterns were just too complicated, because that's what everyone said about them. It wasn't that bad, although, as the linked blog post shows, my skills weren't quite there yet. Still, it gave me confidence to (eventually) try the Burda motorcycle jacket, which I was very happy with (until KnowMe 2011 appeared and dazzled me with its true asymmetry.) That Burda shirt pattern is in children's sizes, though, and The Child is a tall skinny teenager who I've already established fits into McCall's 6613 size small very well, so I used that again. This is my tenth 6613, all sewn within the last three years. Add that to the copious amount of heavily modified Burda 7831s I've sewn in the same amount of time, also with two part collars and front bands, and I guess it makes sense that I can sew a shirt like this in a single day. It still tickles me that I can, though.
There are signs of the haste, if you look closely, but you won't be doing that. Some stitches just weren't worth picking out and sewing again (although some very much still were.)
The fabric that was chosen for the inside of the yoke wasn't intended to coordinate, it was just something I had the appropriate amount of in the small yardage stash.
Alas, since I was working with such a limited amount of yardage, I ended up with a close print repeat on the front band related to the shirt front, and the print distribution on the part of the fabric that had to be cut for the bands was such that it would have happened no matter which edge of which piece I sewed to the upper center front opening. I'm probably the only person on the planet who is bothered by that. The many smug upside down Benjamin Franklins judging me don't help.
As always, I pressed every edge before construction started, so I wouldn't have to deal with maneuvering more and more bulk around the ironing board as the pieces got sewn together.
When I sewed the sleeve and side seams, I unfolded them for the stitching, then trimmed the seam allowance inside the folds and rolled them back up before sewing the hems. I did serge all visible seam allowances to keep them tidy, too. Someday maybe I'll once again remember that I could do french seams, as well as dig up the way Male Pattern Boldness shared to cleanly finish the armscye seams, and then there wouldn't be any seam allowances to serge. That would be fancy.
I also followed my usual approach of only folding just enough fabric to cut one pattern piece, which generally allows me to use fabric more efficiently than folding the entire piece in half like you're supposed to do. (This also means that I can cut the front pieces with the center front opening on the fold, which completely eliminates the possibility of the print accidentally repeating on each side...when I don't take the time to otherwise pattern match.) It was very beneficial to my limited yardage that all the long narrow pieces--yoke, collar, collar stand--were supposed to be cut across the grain.
Again, it is the nature of this print that the close repeats are so obvious.
It is also the nature of this print that I expect most people won't notice.
Since we do still have the earlier, smaller shirt made with this fabric, I decided to compare their sizes.
...but what caught my eye more was the difference in the print itself.
First, I noticed that the older version had a reddish tone to some of the bills that the new version lacks.
Then, when I compared them more directly, I saw that the old version (top) was more...delicate.
The new version had the registration marks and color blocks on the selvedge, so I think it's still screen printed and not a digital print. I guess the screens aren't as crisp now as they were then (I'd be surprised if they were the original screens, although this current fabric could still, I suppose, be on the tail end of the screens it uses, too.) Or maybe I just need to wash this one a few more times.
I've told The Child that if I ever manage to find this fabric again, I'll get enough to make proper long sleeves. We just hope it really matches!
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