Originally drafted 2024
Production has been slow and inspiration has been low of late. Have I finally got a full wardrobe? As much as I love all the lush dresses you guys are making that are popping up on my feed day in day out, I find I have very little cause to dress up fancy, and when I do, I generally already have what I need. I spend half my life at work, and a quarter in the gym and the rest of the time asleep - and now that I have identified that it has allowed my sewing plans to become more streamlined and made me feel less guilty about returning to patterns that I know work for me and my life.
McCalls 7575 is THE one. Never was there ever a shirt pattern so versatile and so user friendly. M7575s are my work wardrobe staple. I have on occasion been known to wear them on dates and to art workshops too, like I said - lovely and versatile! So when this geometric yellow georgette had been sat untouched for a few months in my stash, it made sense to use it for something I knew would get a lot of wear.
There were a few things I had to take into consideration with this fabric, and a few things I should have considered further. Looking back - why on earth did I not decide to use French Seams, specifically on those side seams? This fabric was begging for them, but it had been so long since I had french seamed anything, that they just seemed to have disappeared from my repetoire until it was too late. The alternative was some rather scraggy-if-you-look-too-close overlocking that I wasn't overly proud of, and was also a little worried would be crazy visible through the fabric, though I needn't have worried too much - the end result giving no hint to any wobbles that were lurking inside. I do feel like I have to be delicate when handling the shirt, particulary where the sleeves join the cuffs as this is where the finishing is most vulnerable.
With such a delicate fabric, I knew interfacing for stability was important. In the past with sheer fabrics I have inserted an extra layer of the fabric in place of interfacing. I played around with some options, as I knew the moment I fused interfacing, the sheer quality of the fabric would become opaque - was this something I wanted? As it turned out - I quite liked the contrast of the sheer panels against the more blocky areas- the cuffs, yoke and collar, and once against my body the contrast wasn't quite so stark.
I was worried that the 'uninterfaced' piece of the collar would be as sheer as to reveal the inner workings and wobbly, fraying seam allowances. I was super cautious to keep them neat and tidy! Despite the shirt certainly having a sheer quality and being borderline 'what-can-I-get-away-with-at-work', the inner workings stay quite nicely hidden between the fabric.
In an attempt to change things up a bit, I altered the collar tip shape for this pattern, making the points a little er, pointier. From the look of the pattern piece, I thought this would look more exaggerated and 70s-looking than the end result did. In factm if you didn't tell me, I don't think Ive have noticed the collar was different at all... And how familiar am I with this shirt pattern now!!? I would like to see what the pattern piece of an actual 70s exaggerated collar looks like so I know what I'm aiming for next time.
One cute quirk I am very proud of on this shirt though is the button choice. Pearly, soft and geometric, these little cubes fit the brief perfectly.
I absolutely adore this fabric, so of course the shirt came out looking pretty cool, but I do find that the weighlessness of it does stop it from hanging quite as comfortably as my other shirts, particularly where you can feel the weight of the buttons are having an effect. More sheer fabric practice needed (I'll remind myself of this next time I'm in Abakhan thinking do I really neeeed this fabric...? A: YES)
x
Currently listening to: Bernard's Boogie, Donny Benet
Location: Crookes, Sheffield
