In Unity There Is Strength - A Shirt

I purchased a cotton wax print bundle from Sew Creative Lounge in the spring/summer of 2020.  There were three prints included in the bundle and since there was yardage of one of the prints in the online shop, I bought 2 more yards.

When the fabric arrived, I noticed there was some writing on the blue/white floral print at the bottom of the picture above. I'm not a fan of sayings on my clothing and was concerned about what this meant.  However, this saying, "Dua kur gye enum a obu" is Twi proverb which means "In Unity There is Strength." 

BTW, Twi is also known as Akan kasa, or Akan-speak, is a dialect of the Akan language spoken in southern and central Ghana by several million people, mainly of the Akan people, the largest of the seventeen major ethnic groups in Ghana.  Yes, Google is my friend. That's how I learned what the proverb meant and about the language.

This was one of the last pieces from my winter cut pile. Constructed in December during my winter break and finally the buttons were sewn on in March - the end of March. I really need to hang my head in shame on this one! *LOL* However, it's a lighter weight cotton so it will be perfect with jeans and a cardi or sweatshirt jacket headed into spring.

The most important part of this shirt is using the border print to it's advantage.  To me that's all done in the planning and cutting stage.  Here's a photo showing the shirt layed out on my cutting table to check the print across the front.

The most important construction tip is related to the border print. I really wanted the flowers to run all the way around the bottom of the shirt. To achieve this with my pattern pieces, I cut them a little longer and ruched/gathered the side seams at the bustline. 

It gave the bustline some interest and allowed the borderprint to work the way I wanted.  Now I don't know if this is the "proper" way to handle this but it worked for me so I went with it. Also it gave the shirt a design element that I like making it a little different from all of the other shirts I've made.

During the construction, I also used a dark blue & white small gingham as my inner yoke. I just wanted something a little different to go with this very distinctive shirt.

Boy do I need a new ironing board cover!

I added some dark blue shirt buttons purchased from Lancaster, PA to close the shirt. I chose them because I wanted them to melt into the background of the print. The shirt also closes left over right instead of the traditional right over left for women. This is because I liked how the print looked left over right better. It makes the shirt front pop!

A few photos ~

I was very pleased with how this shirt turned out and how it showcased my love of working with border prints. This was the last of my Christmas sewing. It took awhile but it's finished and ready to be worn. 

...as always more later!