McCalls M7575 Shirt

Okay so this was an obvious choice of pattern, but I wanted to chose something simple and wearbale to really showcase this beautiful fabric gifted to me from Minerva in exchange for a blog post. Easy work!

The fabric is a lightweight viscose, in my monochrome colour palette! The fabric feels quite drapey and delicate against the skin but doesn't turn into a frayed mess the moment you cut into it! I would advise using SHARP needles to avoid any snags or laddering while sewing the seams (particularly when handstitching).

The fabric is quite easy to manipulate without stretching it out of shape - so I ended up with a curved hem I was super proud of.

The randomness of the print meant that I could cut all my pieces out on the fold (yay!) without having to worry about pattern matching. This made for speedy cutting out. 

I would advise DEFINITELY pre-washing the fabric (I know there are a few inpatient stitchers out there!) as I could tell this fabric was eager to shrink when I was applying heat to fuse my interfacing to the collar and cuffs. I made a shirt in similar fabric once and that definitely shrank in the wash so I have learnt my lesson!

To jazz the shirt up a bit and add a bit of variation to such a tried and tested pattern I decided to add these cute heart-shaped buttons 😍 I thought the splash of red would look good teamed with a red skirt and accessories. I found it quite tricky stitching these button holes to fit the buttons though. Buttonholes are probably my least favourite part of making anything, especially with the added fear of the fabric laddering straight down the centre front!! My machine is pretty basic and I'm considering upgrading to something that can be more precise with buttonholes- any ideas? I think aything would be an improvement!

My fabric laddering nightmare became a reality and those annoying white lines of pulled thread appeared between my buttonholes!! SO, here is my sneaky tip...... Sharpie Marker! simply colour over the threads that have pulled. It's naughty and I recommend ALWAYS doing a tester on scrap fabric as the ink tends to have a blue-y tinge to it. Obviously this only works on black fabric and might need topping up after a few washes. Just don't tell a soul and we'll keep this one between you and me.

The shirt is cute and totally wearable for work. I maybe struggled again matcing the right weight of interfacing to the fabric for the button band. Too heavy and the band sticks up and feels a bit cardboardy, too light and the band can distort and go wobbly! I cut out the interfacing without the seam allowances to try and avoid unnecessary bulk, with the intenetion of this also making sewing the button holes a little easier too. 

Big thanks to Minerva for the fabric! It's very "Me" and I can't wait to wear this shirt to work!

Check out my Minerva profile on their sassy new interactive website:  https://www.minerva.com/people/1133569

x

Location: Livesey Street, Hillsborough/Luke's Place, Infirmary Road
Currently listening to: Bug A Boo, Destiny's Child