McCalls M7575, Grey Stripe Shirt

McCalls M7575, the classic, the original, the blueprint for all office work shirts! 

This stripey fabric was calling out to me from the stash bins in Abakhan. The barcode stripes reminded me of the mandarin collar M7575 I made a few years back, so as unoriginal as it might be, I decided to make another. 

This fabric was well behaved and hangs the way I wanted it too.  I cut out my pieces on a single layer so that I could ensure the stripes on each side mirrored each other. 

I love the thin blue stripe in this fabric! 

I opted again for the mandarin collar as I only have one in my wardrobe and always think it makes a nice change. 

The collar can be done up or left open and looks cool either way 😎 

Paranoid about getting thread runs in my fabric around the button holes, I used fray stop glue on them to keep them nice and secure. 

I really like the fit of this shirt (I think that's clear by now). The only thing I'm not 100% on is the buttons. I think they are perhaps a little too large and dominate the front placket, however I think the purlescent blue sheen brings an extra pop of subtle colour to the grey tones in the shirt. 

Embarrassingly this shirt has been sat in my wardrobe unworn for ages! I think because there's no crazy dogs or bouncey flounces I forget it exists! Here's to barcode shirt's big Spring! 🌷

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Location: Arundel Street, Sheffield

Currently listening to: Trouble, Sharon Van Etten

New Look 6843, Mini skirt hack

With my perfect fit mini-skirt pattern now in existence, I've gone a bit mad for this pattern. 

Boys won't understand, but there's something about a miniskirt that screams autumn to me ("Aren't you cold?"). Tights and boots and a wool blend mini - who's with me? 

Rooting through the wool blends in Abakhan Manchester I dug up this wool blend with seasonal browny flicks in it. The lining fabric was some I had in my stash which luckily matched the fawn tones in the wool. I found a zipper to match this colour too which really bought the whole thing together. 

In love with the fit of this pattern and understanding its versatility, I picked up some more mini skirt-suitable fabrics that day too, and set to a kind of conveyour system for cutting them all out at home, which I knew future me would be grateful for (who else hates sitting down to sew only to find, oh shit need to cut my interfacing😑). 

Having made this skirt a few times now, all three mini skirts came together really quickly. I think this one was my fave of the three, as the fabric hang is just perfect and the colours match so many things in my wardrobe. 

I love the construction of this skirt - the omission of a waistband, using the fabric for a facing inside instead just makes the whole thing more chic. 

The double darts in the backside allow for fantastic shaping. The almost A-line cut allows for lovely free movement (helpful for hiking up all the hills in Sheffield!), but doesn't poke out at a comical angle like ready to wear a-line skirts seem to on me. 

I knew I needed to add 1.5cm for the hem to the bottom of my skirt and lining pattern pieces as I had only been able to turn up a very tiny bit on my last black and white one (slight miscalculation there on my part maybe!!). This fabric hemmed really nicely. I finished with a blind hem by hand so that the stitching wouldn't be visible on the right side of the garment, again another chic little feature that adds to this skirt's simple elegance. 

I'm super pleased with this mini skirt - it looks so balanced when I wear it, the darts on this really do create the perfect fit. It's great for work, autumn and winter walks with woolly long socks, looks good with boots or flats, the brown flecks in the fabric make for a perfect pairing with gold jewellery and a neutral beret. It really is my perfect skirt! 

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Location: Wentworth House
Currently listening to: New Town Velocity, Johnny Marr