Monday, January 28, 2019

A Circle Border Print Shirt

Back in December, I wanted to use an older piece of fabric for my next shirt in The Border Print Series. I've been collecting border prints for years and knew there were some buried deep in the collection. I just needed to dig them out. After rummaging around in it I touched this piece...


...which was purchased in 2010. Yes, I'm taking it way back. At that time I blogged every fabric purchase, so here's the post regarding the border print. However, this fabric doesn't count towards my 2019 #deepstash garments. I made this in 2018, and I'm just sharing it to the blog.

Supply List ~
- 3 yards of cotton border print fabric from the collection
   (long time residence - 9 years)
- 5/8" coconut buttons from the notions stash 
   (from the days I worked at a button company)
- Interfacing from Steinlauf & Stoeller


Construction ~
Since I was starting with my TNT pattern for this shirt, the challenge was how to use the border print since it only runs down one side of the fabric. It's the side pictured in the photo above. It was wide enough to cut out shirt fronts, the collar & undercollar and the back yoke. Originally I wanted it for cuffs too but didn't have enough. In the end I'm glad I didn't cut the cuffs from the border. I like that the larger circles just runs down the front of the shirt.

This is a lightweight shirting fabric. I bought it to make a summer dress and now I know why it sat in the collection. It's way too lightweight for a dress ~ even a summer dress ~ but it's perfect for a shirt. Especially if I wear it under a cardigan for the winter.
  • The construction was similar to every other shirt I've made, the only difference being the way it was cut out. 
  • It has a straight hemline, I didn't want a curved one for this version. 
  • I used the fold over center front piece because I didn't want to sew on a button band. 
  • When I went to fold the button band - the front band was flimsy even when folded 3x. So I added a strip of interfacing to the front to stabilize it. 
  • I don't usually do this because the fold of fabric typically is stable enough.
Everything is topstitched in white. I made samples using brown and white thread for the topstitching and the white sample won. Also took pictures of buttons for the front...the brown coconut or a simple 4-hole white one. I went with the brown coconut since I wasn't trying to make a statement with the buttons.  Those are the only construction points worth mentioning for this make. 

So some pictures of the shirt in action ~





I made this cardigan in November 2012. When I was doing the great closet clean-out after changing jobs, I just couldn't let this go. There was so much work associated with it and I loved the pleather accents. I've worn it occasionally when hanging out with friends because it's a great throw on when headed out to dinner. I thought of it when I needed a cardigan to go over this shirt. This is how I will be wearing it to work now...



Conclusion ~
This is the next to last shirt in "The Border Print" series AND it's the 15th shirt I made in 2018. For the last shirt in the series, I had another border print fabric in mind. However, the pattern tetris wasn't working with the fabric. Sometimes what I see in my mind doesn't work well with the actual fabric so I put it back on the shelf. However, I really wanted one more shirt in the series so I pulled a rather conservative shirting purchased from Fabric Mart after the last Sew Camp.

The last shirt in the "Border Print Series" will show up in February. I know this seems to be stretching them out but blogging all of my makes goes with my 2019 goals. Plus, I like having them here on my blog. The next post is my end of the month round-up.

...as always more later!




33 comments:

  1. Placement of the border is an excellent idea! Lovely shirt.

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    Replies
    1. Thanks KathrynT - I wanted to showcase a different way to use a border print and I'm glad it worked.

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  2. Fantastic use of this border print. I really like the cardigan too both laid back and elegant

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    Replies
    1. Marie-Noelle - I was thrilled when the cardigan worked with the blouse. Thanks for liking the combo!

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  3. what a great use of the border print, it makes for a really fun shirt.

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  4. Replies
    1. Thanks Bonnie - I was silly by this time. I really should shoot one garment at a time instead of letting them pile up!

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  5. This is a great looking shirt Carolyn and the cardi looks perfect with it. A really lovely outfit !

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    Replies
    1. Thanks Diana! I've been finding quite a few pieces from the back of the closet to work with some of my newer makes.

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  6. Love, love, love this shirt & border prints forever ❤️

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    Replies
    1. MaryEllen - I agree - we should all live lives full of border prints!

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  7. Perfect use of your border print.

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  8. Carolyn
    Just love this shirt, you really nailed it. You have made me want to pull out some of my border prints and try the same thing.

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    Replies
    1. Connie - yes, go for it! Pull them out and see what they want to become because they are so amazing to work with!

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  9. This is not only beautifully done, but is VERY slimming on you!! GREAT job!!

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    Replies
    1. Rosalind - in all honesty I think that's good posing rather than slimming. And I think a good fit is helping a little too!

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  10. Ooh I like this. When I first saw it I thought it was black spots and it didn't appeal to me. But funny, now that I can see that they are brown I find it much more interesting. Brown is less expected. Looks fabulous with the cardigan. You have had such fun with the border prints.

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    Replies
    1. Vicki - that's funny! Personally I love brown and have a couple of shelves of it in the collection so I should use more of it! And sewing with the border prints have been fun and freeing creatively.

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  11. I absolutely love the way you have placed the border print here - so creative & and makes for a really interesting and flattering shirt.

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    Replies
    1. Thanks Allison! It was fun figuring out how to use the border print to the best advantage!

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  12. This might be my favorite border print shirt and I am not usually a fan of brown. But love this shirt. The cardigan is great as well. It looks great with the shirt. Jean

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    Replies
    1. Jean - thanks! It was an unusual piece of fabric and I'm glad I finally made it into something I will wear.

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  13. I love seeing what you do with border prints. This one is so fun and fabulous!

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  14. I love this shirt. I listened to you on the podcast yesterday and really enjoyed it. No matter how old you get (OLD, people!), you'll never be as old as me.

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    Replies
    1. Susy - thanks for listening to the podcast. I so appreciate it! BTW, old is GOOD, right!

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  15. Love, love, love this shirt!

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  16. That shirt sings. It looks terrific on you. I believe this is my favorite of all the shirts you've made in 2018. It was really clever of you to place the dark circles down the front. Thanks for sharing this with us.

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  17. Hi! Someone in my Myspace group shared this website with us
    so I came to take a look. I'm definitely enjoying the
    information. I'm book-marking and will be tweeting this to my followers!
    Outstanding blog and great design.

    ReplyDelete

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