Button Up Shirt |

I’m pretty sure I kinda said I was done making shirts a while ago (though I think I acknowledged that I had 2 more planned…..this is one of the 2. And then I’m really going to stop, honest!

I’d kinda forgotten about the Blaire pattern (as I was on a Kalle- and Archer-making kick most recently) but I really like it! I’ve made it once before, in peachskin, which is really quite a sweaty fabric so I don’t wear it as much as I could. But I think this one will get loads of wear (once the weather is warm enough for short sleeves (with or without a cardigan).

I again made the size 8 without any fitting changes, though I did leave off the underneath panel which I added last time (I’m still not entirely sure whether the different bottom panels are interchangeable or meant to be used together, and Style Arc’s instructions have to be the sparsest in the business, even more so than the big 4). I did this because my fabric was very limited – I bought I think 3 separate remnants of it from Guthrie and Ghani at the Sewing Bee Live. I knew I would be pushing it to be able to make much but I’m glad I managed to squeeze out all the pieces for this shirt, though I obviously couldn’t fully pattern match but I don’t think it’s too obvious.

I love the little peek of skin on the side from the shape of the side seam – and wearing it with my high-waisted black dawn jeans, the peek isn’t too much for what I’m comfortable with!

As I mentioned before, although the instructions are very limited, this is a slightly simpler shirt pattern than, say, the Archer or Kalle as there is no back yoke – so you don’t have to wrestle with a burrito! And there are no cuffs/ sleeve plackets. So if you’re looking for an easier shirt to try for your first one this could be a good choice. Though I would also really recommend the Archer as the instructions are excellent and there’s a full sewalong on the Grainline blog, including some videos for the trickier parts.

I used plain black buttons which I had in my stash, and I’m amazed how well they seem to blend in in these photos!

Do you have a particular garment that you can’t stop making? I don’t know why I’ve made so many shirts! I’ve got a white Melilot made (I just need to photograph it) and then I really am don’t for a while! I think I might love shirts because often the kinds of fabrics I’m drawn to, I think ‘that would make a great shirt’ if it’s a woven – because I don’t really wear dresses that much and making a plain tee would be less interesting somehow (though I’ve also got loads of those thanks to my Inari binge over the Summer).

Today I’m posting the last of the things I made in October……in December. I’m a little backed up, what can I say?

This is the Deer and Doe Melilot Shirt made from some mystery slippery fabric I got from Rolls and Rems at Holloway Road. It’s the first Deer and Doe pattern I’ve made and after the brief panic when I thought the instructions only came in French (they don’t, fyi, there is a French booklet and an English one!), the shirt came together pretty well, aside from my terrible fabric choice.

This is some mystery almost-certainly-synthetic slippery horror. It was not easy to cut out accurately and it doesn’t iron at all, it just curls up. I’m frankly amazed the shirt turned out as okay as it did!

You can see above it looks a bit wrinkled, but there’s not much I can do about that given than the iron just makes it worse!

You can’t really see it but there is a pocket! It’s on my left (the right of the photo). I didn’t pattern match it – that would have been impossible! – but the fabric is so busy it disappears in the photos.

I made the size 38 and didn’t make any fitting changes – this is why I like making quite loose-fitting things! I actually think the fit across the back is okay (if you ignore the fact that the fabric looks terrible!). I really like how it sits lower at the back than the front, I think it’s a nice design detail that makes the shirt look a bit more interesting.

I made view A which has long sleeves, a rounded collar and it’s supposed to have hidden buttons. I say supposed to because I clearly did something wrong in the construction because I ended up with the bit that should have folded back over where the buttons would be next to the other part of the button band, so it looks like I’ve got a double button band. I didn’t realise until I’d sewed the entire things together, though. And weirdly the collar seemed to fit okay considering the body of the shirt was longer than it should have been! I just did the button holes down the middle of the 2 bands and it looks okay – no-one has commented on it anyway! (If they did I would just say it was deliberate ;))

I think my favourite thing about this pattern is the adorable collar. I just really like the shape of it and I feel like it’s quite flattering on me too, which is a bonus! I think I’ll try the version with the grandad-style collar too (and the short sleeves) to see if it looks as nice.

I found the instructions pretty clear, though there were a couple of times I found myself googling to see if there was a sewalong (which there isn’t, sob!). I think I mainly psyched myself out about the sleeve plackets because I’d read other blog posts that said the instructions weren’t clear. But actually once I’d worked out which placket went on which sleeve (it wasn’t clear to me which was the back of the sleeve in the diagrams), the instructions were perfectly clear. I think I’ve done this before – notably with the welt pockets on my Freemantle Coat – where I read all the instructions and think ‘what?!’ but then when I actually do the steps, the instructions make sense and it all comes together.

I definitely want to make this again but in a more cooperative fabric! I think this is a good work shirt – it looks equally nice tucked into a skirt (in these photos my navy drill Simplicity 2451) as it does over skinny trousers. I also kind of want to copy the cream sleek one in the pattern photos – and do the button band right so the buttons are actually hidden! In other news I have quite a bit more of this fabric. I’m thinking a skirt lining possibly? Any other suggestions for a pain-in-the-arse-but-pretty-fabric?