New Look 6407

View A/B toile.

It's been years since I made a proper shirt/blouse for myself.  I did intend to join Peter with his shirt sew-along but the tutu got in the way. So here it is, albeit a toile, and very late!

Lovely fit.  Note I have the cuff on the wrong way around -
that's what a toile's all about!



Not hemmed.  Sitting nicely around the neck.



Sorry, a blurry back.  I was trying to show you
how well it sits at the waist and back - it doesn't wrinkle
 like that, honestly

I used a piece of curtain lining as my calico is too heavy to make shirts.  I made it up as though making in my fabric with the exception of one arm* and I didn't use French seams.  It's pressed, clipped, finished and trimmed as it should be.  And I needed to practice my buttonholes so played about with those too.  The best result was achieved by using embroidery thread.

Yellow is the embroidery thread and gave the
best results on this piece

 So here are my notes made along the way.

 I cut a size 14 as advised in the Fast Fit Book.  Sandra ( I feel I can call her by her first name as I have spent so much time reading this book over the last few days!) says go with your full bust measurement when using New Look.  But in view of the neck issue I had with the grey linen top, I decided to have a go at adjusting the upper chest and back using her techniques.  I took out 2cm from the back, and graded out around 1.5cms at the hip and for the front I took out 1.5cms.

Here is the front adjustment, above the armhole

And the back, using the same technique

 I always have to add width at the sleeve for my bingo wings larger arms and shorten every sleeve I ever use!
BUT to add to the complication, the adjustment to the upper front lengthens the armhole so you have to add extra width to the front sleeve side seam too.  Now there is a possibility that the sleeve may twist once set in place, however I could not for the life of me work out what Sandra was asking me to do.  So I did nothing, I think it's worked out okay, but perhaps once made up for real I may be telling you a different tale!

How many alterations can you make to one sleeve piece? 
Answers on a postcard please!

Oh! I took out approx 1.5cms at the waist for my sway back.  I did do the hem, again for practice, after I had taken the photographs and referred back to Peters post re shirt hemming as David Coffin's book suggests using a rolled hem foot - and quite frankly that scared me! Peter suggests turning up a double, narrow hem.

*  I did add the other sleeve to double, double check the fit/twist - all okay.  Phew!


So there you have it.  I like the shape, I like the fit and I like the end result.  Making the adjustments wasn't hugely difficult and I enjoyed making the toile.  This shirt won't take very long to make up next time either. I have some shirting in the stash and will make a start on that later today.  I'm going to use soft linen for collar and cuff interfacing as I want this to be a "formal" looking shirt.

More later.  Happy Sunday everyone.