The “Gingham-To-Go” Shirt

I’ve been having a bit of a wardrobe crisis the last couple of months. And a sewing crisis. The wardrobe crisis part is kinda obvious I guess, although for some reason it didn’t occur to me until I was nearly right at the end of my pregnancy – most of my wardrobe just isn’t really suitable for breastfeeding. (Except for the cardigans, and luckily I have heaps of those!) Which means I have very little to wear, and as for those 1940’s and 1950’s style dresses, with their fitted waists? Yeah, well, guess I won’t be wearing those for a while yet. But hey, I can always make myself some more things to wear, right?

And that’s where the sewing crisis comes in. I’m finding it hard to get my head around the idea of making things to wear that may only be the right size for a month or two. (Or longer – heck knows how quickly my shape is going to change at the moment.) I’ve decided skirts and trousers are out due to waists being the least forgiving of fits. Dresses I can always cinch in with a belt. And shirts – I’ve recently discovered the joy of shirts.

Which is rather convenient for this weeks Sew Weekly challenge theme – shirts!

The Facts:

Fabric: somewhere between 0.5 and 1 metre of green and cream gingham that I got from Fabric-a-brac a while ago for $1
Pattern: Home Journal 11553
Year: 1950s
Notions: 5 green buttons from my stash
Time to complete: 2.5 hours
First worn: just a general day – around the house, visit with friends, then a nice walk after dinner up to the water tower where these photos were taken
Wear again?: yep
Total cost: about $1

(Why is it the “Gingham-To-Go” shirt? Well, it’s gingham. (Duh.) And I kinda feel a bit like a snack bar on legs these days, hence the “to go” part.)

This pattern was rather interesting to make up. The instructions were, to put it mildly, confusing as all heck. They’re in multiple locations – on the separate instruction sheet, on the front of the pattern envelope, and on the back of the pattern envelope. Oh, and on one of the pattern pieces, too. You have to read all of them to find out whether or not seam allowance is included. Twice. And even then I felt a bit nervous cutting out the pieces, in case they did actually include seam allowance and I was interpreting the instructions wrong. And that was before I started trying to refer to them for the sewing part….. (Yes, it just got worse.) So even though this shirt is actually nice and easy to put together, I’d put it in the “not for novices” pile just because you have to interpret/ignore/invent the instructions yourself.

I’ve been wanting to make this pattern for a little while now – it’s got four little pleats at each side of the neckline, and inverted tucks at front and back for shaping. And cap sleeves! How cute are cap sleeves?!?

(Although it took me wearing the shirt all day to decide I liked the cap sleeves on me. I liked them when sewing it up, then when I first tried on the shirt I worried they made me look like an American Football player. Now, I like them again. So that’s all good.)

It feels nice to have made something for myself – it’s been nearly two months! And I’m pleased to say that my sewing dilemma is now over and I’m about to go and launch into my next project. Yippie!

And with that, I’ll leave you with my favourite photo from this shoot. Cat graffiti is awesome, no?