Tag Archives: White Shirt

White Melilot Shirt

Wao another shirt (I hear you all crying!). I can promise this will be the last shirt I post here for a while! I planned this shirt as an alternative to my white Archer for playing in the brass band I play in (white shirts are part of our uniform). Little did I know when I was planning it that I wouldn’t be playing for almost a year! But you can never have too many white shirts in my opinion.

I still really like the shape of the hem of the Melilot. It also doesn’t have a yoke so it’s a good pattern to start with if you’re wary of venturing into shirt making.

The fabric is not the best quality to be honest. It’s certainly not as nice as the stuff I used for the archer. It feels and sounds shiny and crinkly which makes me think it’s definitely got some synthetic fibres in. I bought it with a voucher I won at Sew Brum a couple of years ago I think (it’s literally the only time I’ve won anything). It was from Clothspot which I had never heard of before (and haven’t shopped with since, embarrassingly). There were slim pickens for things I felt would work in my wardrobe so I got this white fabric and some fabric for trousers, which is also pretty synthetic feeling (though I haven’t sewn them up yet). I think that’s why I like to stick with the same few online fabric shops I’ve shopped with before as you know you’re going to get good quality fabric.

The Melilot as drafted has a rounded collar. I’ve made 3 other versions (see the bottom of the post), all with the rounded collar but because we wear a tie in band I thought that might look a bit odd so I made the collar pointed. I used the collar pattern piece from the archer shirt as the template for the edge of the collar but kept the rest of it as in the original pattern so it would still fit on the stand.

I made the size 38 and, as with my other versions, I made no fitting changes. I made the long sleeved version for versatility of using it in multiple seasons – and I can always roll up the sleeves if it’s especially hot! Though actually if I’m playing a band gig in the blazing sun (as I’ve done a few times) I learnt the hard way to keep your sleeves rolled down to prevent arm sunburn (I didn’t bring my sun cream because I didn’t think we’d be outside that long – also a hard lesson learnt!). A lot of people think I’m overly obsessed with sun cream but, seriously, I can burn in like 10-15 minutes!

Anyway….shirts! I put 2 pockets on because why not.

The top-stitching on this shirt is definitely not my best handiwork (though I didn’t take any close ups) because my machine was having tension issues. I fiddled with the tension to get it better but nothing seemed to work. I gave the little screw on the bobbin a tiny turn and that seemed to help a little but I think it probably needs another service. I’ve had my machine for probably 7-8 years and I had it serviced when we moved to Cirencester coming up for 5 years ago and this year especially it has probably had the equivalent of 2 years of ‘normal’ use when I was furloughed for so long!

I think I’m going to start saving up for a new sewing machine though as I could probably do with an upgrade – though this machine (which is the £110 model from John Lewis) has done basically everything I’ve needed it to do, from coats to jeans, to many many shirts, to sequinned dresses. I also want a new overlocker as I have the Lidl Singer and the tension is always off, no matter what I do – it’s fine for neatening seams but I don’t trust it enough to actually sew seams on it. Which machine do you use? What do you love/hate about it? I think given their not great responses to various members of the sewing community about accessibility information and them seeming to lie about working with disable sewists, I’ll be most likely avoiding Pfaff.

Are you especially obsessed with a particular kind of garment? I’ve definitely got enough shirts for now so I’m going to have to pause my shirt-making.

Autumn 2018 Plans

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I can’t believe it’s already October!

But with the weather definitely getting colder (I’m currently cuddling a hot water bottle, something I will do for probably the next 6 months!) I’m starting to think about my Autumn sewing plans, so I thought I would share them with you.

As usual, I’m probably being overly ambitious, but hopefully I’ll make most of these things:

I’ve got these 2 lovely sweater knits, which were really difficult to photograph so the colour came out correctly. The one on the left is a lovely mustard yellow and was from Tilly’s pop up shop for her new book, Stretch. The burgundy one on the right was from the Bull Ring market in Birmingham at last year’s Sew Brum meet up, which means it’s been in my stash almost a whole year! I think they will both become cardigans, but I don’t have a pattern in mind – let me know your favourite cardigan pattern if you have one.

Next on my list is another Kalle Shirt – I still really love my first one, though it’s a bit cold to wear it now as the fabric is a bit thin. With this one I think I’ll make the tunic length, and I’ve bought the sleeves expansion pack so it will be more cool-weather-appropriate. I love this fabric, so I think this will become one of my favourite makes!

Not content with making one shirt, I’m planning a second! I have already made one white shirt using the Archer pattern, but I could really do with another one as a white shirt forms part of the uniforms for both bands I now play with, and you can never have too many white shirts! This time I thought I would make a Melilot, but maybe with a pointed collar instead of the rounded one. I haven’t decided whether I do a hidden placket or not. The fabric is from Clothspot and was bought with a voucher I won in the Sew Brum raffle.

And talking of Clothspot, the stripey fabric here, which I’m planning to use to make the Papercut Guise trousers, was bought with the other half of my voucher. The fabric is quite shiny, but I’m hoping it will be a bit toned down by using a fairly casual pattern.

The rest of my plans consist of jeans, jeans and more jeans – I just need to bite the bullet and make my first pair, it can’t be that scary! First up will be the Morgans as I’ve already cut them out, from this fabric I bought from a Birmingham shopping trip probably 18 months ago!

I also got this denim for my Ginger wearable muslin in Birmingham, so they will hopefully be next.

And then, assuming the first pair of Gingers works okay, I’ll make a black and a navy pair (probably without the contrasting topstitching or hardware) from these stretch denims from Fabric Godmother.

This month, however, my main focus will be 2 outfits not mentioned above – I want to join in with The Refashioners this year and I already have my inspiration and all the garments I’m going to refashion – now I just need to do the sewing…..

I was also lucky enough to get a ticket to the Sewcialite Soirée on November 10th, so I need to make an outfit for that too. I’ve got an idea of what I want to make, but I need to buy fabric and possibly a pattern so I’m not totally sorted yet! Are you going? Have you decided what to wear yet?

Are you getting excited for Autumn? What are you excited to make now the weather is cooling down?

White Archer Shirt

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I made another Archer! I’ve made 2 before and I wear them pretty often – the flowery one for some reason feels more work-appropriate and the spotty one seems more casual, though I don’t really know why!

I feel like there probably isn’t too much to say about the Archer, now this is the third time I’ve made it. I made the size 4, as I have before, but this time I took 2.5cm off the shoulder pattern pieces to raise up the sleeves a little and make the shoulder seam sit more on my actual shoulders. The fabric is from The Great British Sewing Bee Live, from a shop called Holland and Sherry and it’s got a really subtle herringbone pattern in it. And it’s nice and thick.

For some reason I made the vast majority of this shirt in November but when I mentioned it in my planning post, I hadn’t done the buttons and button holes. I did most of this back before Christmas (I can’t remember when exactly) but I forgot the cuff button holes and buttons, so it languished as a UFO for a couple of months until the weekend before last I finally had white thread in my machine and did the last 2 button holes.

I did wear this to work but I wore it with my suit refashion trousers and it definitely gave me school uniform vibes – my uniform was grey trousers, white shirt, royal blue and gold tie and a black blazer! I think if I wear it with other colours then it won’t be quite so bad. Everyone has a white shirt in their wardrobe and I never think they look like they’re wearing a school uniform.

I used the second cuff option on the pattern, with the corners ‘missing’ and I’m really glad I did.

Here’s a shameless close up of my topstitching, which I think it amongst the best I’ve ever done. Which is lucky because this fabric did not like being unpicked – there were pretty much permanent holes wherever the needle went in.

This is my sort-of-outtake from this photoshoot – I took a whole bunch of photos and then looked at them and thought I should really iron the shirt as it looked soooo wrinkley!

I’m definitely glad I now have a classic white shirt – a definite wardrobe staple! Also I’m wearing a navy blue vest top underneath (because I was already wearing it) and you can’t see it, so it’s great to know the fabric is pretty much thick enough not to show it!