This shirt is made from fabric that was part of my first order from LA Finch Fabrics. I purchased it during their Black Friday sales in November 2017. While it's not a long time occupant of the collection, I consider this a collection sew, nonetheless.
Construction ~
This shirt is sewn as is with no design details added to it. I wanted a chambray shirt with character and the small dot of this fabric provided that. It's a medium weight fabric that will work with a tank top under it or worn alone. Since I want to be able to wear this one in the spring/early summer, I used the button cuff and continuous lap. I noticed that the sewn on cuffs don't work well in the summer heat.
I use a lot of buttons when I make a shirt with a buttoned cuff. This shirt took 12. Thankfully there were loads of white/cream buttons in the stash with 12 or more buttons. I also cut this one a little fuller than normal. I think I was feeling "fat" at the time I was cutting it out but it's cool that it has a more relaxed fit.
Lastly, this is a total collection sew. Fabric, buttons and interfacing all from the collection ~ nothing purchased to make this shirt!
A few pics of the shirt ~
...and yes, I'm wearing velvet slip-on sneakers...
Sewing Tip ~
To me button placement is so important on a shirt to prevent gaping. As I said before I use a lot of buttons on my shirts. The first button I place on the shirt, is in the valley between my breasts. Then one is placed above and below that one. This is to guarantee that there's no gaping. I also use more buttons than suggested and place them closer together ~ typically 3.5" apart.
This is the beauty of making your own shirt. You can use as many buttons as you like. I also used a larger button than most RTW shirts have. I hate trying to button those tiny shirt buttons so I've sized up. As a plus size woman I find that good button placement and a great fit add up to a well-fitted shirt. I highly suggest that you use the size button and a placement that works for your body, not just what the pattern suggests!
Wearability Factor ~
This shirt was comfortable to wear and worked. It just worked for my everyday life! It was the perfect marriage of fabric and design details. While I was wearing denim on denim, it didn't matter in my work environment. I even got a compliment on this shirt! It was a total winning sew!
Conclusion ~
This fills that spot in my shirt wardrobe of an interesting denim-y type shirt. It was a simple sew since I didn't make any changes to the pattern or add any design elements. Sometimes a shirt just needs to be a shirt!
Oh and one more pic of the shirt with my denim jacket that I think I will finally be able to wear later this week! Cause denim, on top of denim, on top of denim...works for me!
Continuing on with "Shirt Month" the next shirt has everything but the kitchen sink thrown into it's construction and YET it works! So look for it next on the blog!
...as always more later!
