Monday, November 17, 2008

Project 5: Blue Shirt


I finished this project a week ago on Veterans (Remembrance) Day but all the drama of the election and the subsequent Prop H8 marches and protests have dominated all my thoughts.

So here is the same shirt pattern I've done twice before. It went really smoothly. The seams turned out better and straighter and the collar came out a little nicer too. There was a slip-up, though. When I finished the shirt and put it on I realized that I had put the buttons on the wrong side. If any of my neighbors were awake when I started shrieking with laughter I'm sure they wondered if a mad scientist was living in the building.

I plan on making three more of these shirts, but my paper pattern pieces are getting a little battered at this point. Luckily for me, I have several seamstress gurus to consult. The incomparable Paula Pay-la-Renta told me to make myself pattern pieces out of thick transparent plastic sheeting. There's something so delightfully Kitsap County about making patterns out of visqueen!

4 comments:

Hippy Goodwife said...

It's gorgeous. I am so impressed with your speed up the sewing learning curve.

On another note, I am certain I have never heard you say delightful and Kitsap County in the same sentence.
Softening a bit towards the motherland?

michael sean morris said...

Buttons on the wrong side? That makes it what the British would call 'a big girl's blouse'!

(And so are you, Mary!)

Srsleh... You are unstoppable. Aren't hobbies great?

michael sean morris said...

On another note, I believe I was the one who mentioned making yourself what's called a 'toile' or fabric pattern out of cotton broadcloth or canvas - anything that doesn't fray and can be written on with Sharpie.

It takes awhile but it lasts forever.

Seumas Gagne said...

You're right, Michael. It's a big girl blouse and I am a big girly man.

You're one of several people who told me about making pattern pieces out of sturdy fabric, but it was Paula who told me to make them out of plastic sheeting so I could see the fabric through the pattern piece and punch holes where there various marks need to go.