All the members of my girlband agreed, Italy absoluely SLAYED this year at Eurovision. A quick looky through Instagram soon showed that Maneskin, their entry, had already acquired quite a following in Europe, with the kind of giddy fanbase I haven't really seen since the 1990s. Amongst the reposts and the hashtags I found this pic of Victoria De Angelis and fell for her outfit!
Sunday morning, post- Eurovij Italy victory, I'm asking my Instagram followers if they've ever seen a shirt pattern like this anywhere? There were a few good answers but the patterns that came my way were mainly out of print and difficult to track down. The suggestions did help me narrow my search down to 'shirt with bib' patterns and I finally came up trumps with the Burda 7136.
The pattern is very formal, with a pin-tuck panel in the breast and sharp collar and cuffs. After the bib area, the second most important feature for my Maneskin blouse was the floaty, flouncy sleeves. I knew I was going to have to do a bit of a hack to transform the dress shirt into something more 70s inspired. I recalled the lovely floaty bell-sleeves of the Mia blouse, which came free with an issue of Simply Sewing magazine a couple of years ago and thought these would be perect to combine with the tux-bodice. I took the top half of the Burda sleeve and then tapered the width to the same width as the Mia sleeve at the elbow point where the first flounce sits. The Mia blouse has the option for a double flounce. Although this wasn't necissarily in the initial plan I thought it could make that shirt just that little bit extra.
An instagram poll voted a big fat YES to the double flounce when I put my toile out to the critics. I'll admit I was little bit worried about the shirt looking a bit too 'costume', but an extra sleeve flounce wasn't a difficult addition to incorporate should I decide I agreed with the poll at the final hour.......... Ha, turns out you guys were right.
I was on the hunt for a drapey but not strechy lace for the main body of the blouse. I found some nice laces but they were all quite open weave and crochetty and didn't quite embody the sexy vibes I was looking for. This soft white satin was an instant WIN- It had the perfect drape to it and not too much sheen for a satin fabric. I settled for a plain black polycotton as at this point I had been round alll the local shops and casually browsed online and couldn't find a lace that was on point. I bougt both of these fabrics from Direct Sewing and Knitting Supplies in Attercliffe. I don't get out that way very often but they do always have a great selection- particularly good range of knits too if you're on the search for some fun tshirt fabrics.
My buttons were in my stash already, just cute plain black stem buttons from Hillsborough Fine Fabrics.
If you've made a shirt before, the basic construction of this guy is nothing too taxing, though must admit the sleeves and cuffs of the actual origial pattern look look to have a few more steps than cuffs I've made before! I thought the hardest part of the shirt was making the bib. A piece of fabric is pin-tucked and then the bib shape is cut out of this once the tucks are all sewn. You have to be really reaaally mindful that you are making each tuck the same width! So I definitely recommend using a ruler and a tape measure and notches for each line of stitching. The stitch lines are all really visible on the front of the blouse and the fabric would definitely show up any unpicking so had to get these right first time! You'd be surprised how long it takes just to stich a series of straight lines!! I pressed the fabric after each one to ensure my measurements for the next line were as accurate as possible.
Confession time?! I'm hoping I'm writing this far enough down the blog post that most of you will have stopped reading now, so I'll reveal my big secret(...) I pressed all of my pintucks in the wrong direction. If you look at ANY pintuck fronted tuxedo online you'll see they are pressed out, towards the sideseams. Mine are pressed in. Why. Why!? I don't know why I did it, but I do know once I'd pressed and cut them both into their bib shapes there was no way I could just press them back the other way. I feared the worst, but I don't think the end result was a major disaster. The main trouble was trying not to catch the inner-most pintuck in the button band seam. But would you have known though? If you'd not read this would you have picked up on my error? Just say no, lets move on.
This was my first hidden-button button band! I think I was really lucky again with my fabric choice - I think some fabrics would have sprung open and not hidden the buttons at all! It also pressed really well on the collar. Construction of the collar is very similar to just adding a collar band, the actual turned out collar being part if this same piece then pressed- so actually simpler than adding another pattern piece. I love the simplicity of the shape but also how crisp and elegant the little triangles look.
The trickiest part of the sleeve is probably hemming them. The edges are very curved!! So you have to realllllllllly ease in the hem allowance. I pressed up 1.5cm and then turned in the hem allowance to meet the crease. I used about 10000 pins and stitched it from the wrong side so I could make sure I was catching the hem. I should probably have checked my machine tension as the stitching on the outside of the sleeve is a tiny bit loose - but it's doing its job and I think only the perfectionist in me can see that.
I'm really really proud of the outcome of this shirt. It has definitely inspired me to plan a project and work toward a particular design vision again- I think makes like this are really rewarding. I've not really experimented too much with combining features of multiple patterns to make something totally new before, I was surprised how easy it was in this instance.
I am intrigued to try the Burda pattern again with a less formal fabric and colour choice. I think the bib could be cut without the pintucks with no detriment to the fit or shape of the blouse, so would be a good opportunity to incorporate multiple fabrics with less faff haha! I've seen some cute bib-blouses online with a ruffle around the edge too, which I think would be easy enough to have a go at by tweaking this pattern again.
After a recent trip to Abakhan and buying ALLL the cute viscose shirt fabrics I have a few more blouses lined up to make!
Has anyone else combined shirt patterns to get a frankenshirt? Or maybe you've tried the cuffs on the original Burda pattern and you could tell me if they were tricky!
x
Location: Crucible Theatre, Sheffield / Fitzalen Square, Sheffield
Currently listening to: 911, Lady Gaga
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