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.

Shirt deconstruction

As any of you who have been reading the blog a while will know, I like to use recycled shirts in my sewing.

I use them both for lining and quilting and you can see some of them here, here, here, and here.

I am lucky enough to have a good supply from my husband and brothers as well as various other kind donators to the cause,
 and they have been stacking up recently in an unruly heap in the corner of my sewing space.

So this weekend I sat and did some deconstruction.

I cut off the collars, cuffs and yoke and then cut down the side seams and shoulder seams so that I am left with a square from the back, two front panels and two sleeves.

These can them be folded and stacked...

 

 

The possibilities are endless and I love that they are recycled.
 

Every so often I wonder if it would be possible to put recycle bins (like those for bottles) in some of the city firms where hundreds of shirts must be thrown away by employees on a regular basis.
 

 

I have a plan for the cut off scraps as well as other bits of fabric waste which I am planning to share when I get around to it.

 

 

And these little beauties will be going in the button box.

They are from the cuffs and collars because I leave the shirt fronts with button on until I know whether they are destined to be a cushion back,
in which case the buttons are perfect for the fastening.

 

There are seven sails now and I will hopefully be doing some more this week.

 

The shirts have made me wonder if I could do some sort of 'sails on the ocean' along the same lines as the 'leaves in the breeze' I did with shirts some time ago.
I've got plenty of blue shirts!

I've got so many ideas in my head at the moment and not enough time to do them all.



 

 

I did make time for a bit of this today though.

Not all of them, just a few.

Leeks, toms, sweet peas and broad beans.

 

Have a good weekend.

x