I was wearing this shirt that I made today, and I realized that I never showed it to you! It is one of the patterns from the Sew U, Built by Wendy book--which is the best clothing manual I've ever read.
My friend Tina gave it to me for my birthday last year. Thank you Tina! She just came out with a new book about sewing with stretch fabrics. I'm gonna have to get that.
So I started out trying to take my own picture in the mirror in my bedroom, but the light was bad, and the baby was screaming, so after 15 tries, (I counted) I thought I'd let Emma try to take one. She only needed one practice shot. Show off.
She took this one, and then backed up to get a more realistic view of my surroundings:
I see a career in photo journalism in Emma's future. Anyway, about the shirt. This is the first button-down shirt I've ever made. The directions in the book are so complete and easy to follow. I think this took me two days of pretty intense work, but the next one should take considerably less time. The fabric is a light teal oxford shirting, and I used a tiny print for trim. The pattern was for a long-sleeved shirt, but Wendy gives tons of ideas for altering her patterns in realistic and wearable ways. You could easily make a whole wardrobe from the three patterns in the book.
I love to put little "secret" detail in my work, so the inside of the collar stand, the front facing and the underside of the collar are all made from the print. (The other reason is that I had just guessed on the yardage I'd need, and I undershot it a bit--so the accent fabric helped me stretch it. )
The buttons are vintage mother-of-pearl that my mom gave me for Christmas. She always gives the best simple gifts. A jar of vintage buttons and a jar of vintage thread!
Even though I was reallllly careful with the darts, one of the bust-darts was about 1 1/2 inches higher than the other. It was very noticeable, so that's where the pocket came in.
And the key-hole sleeve was another suggestion from the book. I'm telling you--this book is amazing. I also made some linen pants to go with the shirt, but I didn't wear them today. Maybe I'll get around to showing you those before Christmas?
