The four tops..

 

Ok so here goes....my top making journey so far. 

 

 

Spurred on by The Sewing Bee like lots of us it seems,

 and having mastered the basic A line skirts that I make for work,

I decided that I would have a go at a shirt.

Many weeks and four shirts later I have one that I think I might wear!

 

I will try and take you through my shirt journey and would also be very interested to hear if anyone has a favourite shirt pattern they use too.

 

Attempt number one...
 

This was a trial at copying a tunic styled top that I have had for years and using some old fabric that I had in the cupboard.
I basically cut around the original top but I didn't get the shoulders and arm holes right at all, so decided to head back to a pattern..

Attempt number two...

 



 

This was made using a Burda pattern 7198 and the fabric was some linen/cotton mix that was left over from a Washi dress.

 

Unfortunately the material was a bit thick for this pattern.

So then I tried removing the godet pieces

(the little extra side venty bits at the bottom of each side seam!)

but then the shirt was too tight around the hips and at this point ended up in the bin!!

 

Attempt number three..

 

This was a man's shirt revamp.

I used New Look pattern 6104 but kept the front fastening from the original shirt.

 

 

 

It was looking fairly promising until I tried it on,

and realised that I hadn't made an allowance for the different width of the front band.

This meant that it was about an inch too tight

and made breathing difficult without popping the buttons off!



 

To give you some idea.. but breathing in - a lot.

 

And finally, attempt number four..

 

I used the same pattern, New Look 6104, view A but without the ruffle.

 

It was fairly straight forward and the instructions were good.

 

I'm a size 12 and made the pattern size 12 and it fits well with room to breath this time.

 

Happy sewing.