Violet Shirt in Vintage Fabric

What’s this?! A finished object post??? Yes, at long last I actually finished something I started sewing!

This is the Violet shirt by Colette patterns (shown with my Zinnia). I bought a couple of years ago when they put a bunch of their old paper patterns on sale… I am not down with PDFs and sensed this would probably be my last chance to get the paper version. And surprise, only the PDF is available now 😦

Ignore my mysterious leg bruise!

I muslined (yes, it’s a verb now) this in a size 12 figuring that perhaps I had gained enough weight to necessitate it. NOPE! I discovered that while it fit in the bust, it was way too big every where else 😦 So, re-traced everything (le sigh) in the size 10 and did my usual 1 inch FBA. #bigboobproblems

Speaking of….

I had some weird puckering going on with the bust darts that you can see here. I’m not sure if I sewed them wrong, if the fabric is too stiff, or what…. I did press the ever loving shit out of it [with my fancy new tailors ham! Thanks Aunt Sandy!] which only seemed to help slightly. Thoughts and suggestions are appreciated in the comments!

I finished the hem of the shirt with some leftover bias tape I had in my stash. In the beginning I used this method because I had been a bit aggressive adjusting the length back down after the FBA, but I actually really like!

The fabric was given to me by my Mom, I believe she got it years ago at her church rummage sale. It’s a vintage(-ish) Laura Ashley fabric from 1979…. how you may ask do I know such a precise year…..

The fabric is similar in weight to a quilting cotton weight fabric, maybe even a bit stiffer. I was treating this as a kind of wearable muslin, so free fabric that I had quite a few yards of seemed a safe bet 🙂

Overall, this was a good and decently quick make AND it’s a good shirt! I had fears at first it was going to be too twee or look like a school uniform, but I’m actually really digging it. Future adjustments though I will try are to grade down a size in the shoulder and maybe even try to adjust the arm scythe- it’s a bit low.

I’ve a got a couple of different yards of fancier fabric I’ve bought specifically for this pattern over the years, so hopefully I’ll be able to crank out a few more!

And finally, in conclusion, here are some shots of me and my co-workers messing around during our lunchtime photo shoot!