My Sewing Space

I do love a nice collared shirt, so the shirtdress seems like a natural extension of that. There are so many good shirtdress patterns available right now, it was a little difficult to choose. The one I used here is Simplicity 8014 , View D. I really liked the denim version on the envelope, but I wanted the option of wearing this to work, so no denim for me. I had considered trying this in silk, but shortly before I went fabric shopping I messed up this silk top with some sort of oil stain. My attempts at treating it only seemed to make it worse. Only low-maintenance laundry items for me, I guess. This fabric is polyester. I wouldn't say it was a joy to work with, but it wasn't bad. After making a muslin, I was pretty pleased with the fit. I removed 1.5" in width from the back - only the dress piece, not the yoke. I also added 2" in length to the skirt. The pattern has gathers at CB, but I changed that to a pleat. I also omitted the pockets. In the final ...

I'm just really not very good with in-progress posts. I thought it might be a good thing for a longer project like this coat, but I still just sew along without thinking to stop for pictures. Oh, well. I think this will be the last progress post before it is complete Woohoo! Let's see...where are we? The collar, which I didn't need to be so afraid of, is in. After thinking about a few options, I decided to use weft-insertion interfacing in the collar and stand. To give the collar a bit of a roll, I used a lot of steam - first on just the undercollar, and then on the whole collar (upper and under) after it was together. After attaching the stand to the collar, I attached it around my pressing ham with pins, steamed the whole thing and let it sit overnight. I don't know how much of a difference that all made, but it didn't hurt anything. The sleeves are set in with sleeve heads and shoulder pads. They're also hemmed and lined. The lining is partly ...

The Preacher's shirt is finished. I don't sew a lot for him, but this pattern could change that. I really liked working on this shirt. I did most of the sewing while he wasn't around, so I used an inexpensive fabric with the intention that this one would mostly be a test of the pattern. I really didn't do any fitting work. I made a size large with a 16 1/2" neck. If it were to be a dress shirt, I think I would go down a size. The sleeve pattern piece looked really short, and after measuring some shirt sleeves in the closet, I added 2" in length. This was too much, as you can see in the pictures. The sleeve plackets turned out well. I cut the placket piece on the bias for interest. I stitch the inside of the collar band down by hand before topstitching it. I find that I don't have enough control by machine and really don't like it when the front edge looks sloppy. It's right by the face and seems really noticable to me. I'll be entering th...