Patchwork Shirt - McCalls 8649

It's been a bit busy here at SewYLD Mansions as I've been concentrating on my business set up which has left little time for sewing or indeed any other craft related activity.  What time I did have was spent creating socks for my brother's christmas gift (which I forgot to photograph for the blog unfortunately).

As yesterday was Christmas Eve I had a day off from the business planning to do some sewing, finally finishing the shirt that has been sat on my dressform since September.

The pattern is McCalls 8649, long out of print, and my TNT shirt pattern.  Actually I think it may be one of the first patterns I ever made.  It has several variations within the package, and I chose the yoked shirt with sleeve plackets and collar on a band but didn't choose to do the separate front button band.

The fabric is some scraps of shirting from TM Lewin and I just realised I already showed the start of this project on the blog way back in September.

It's destined to be worn with jeans or leggings so I lengthened the back hem a couple of inches so it covered my behind more effectively.

Other than the rather unorthodox fabric choices, and the time it took to lay everything out so it fit on the various bits of fabric, this was a straightforward and bog standard shirt.

The collar and cuffs are slightly better finished than I normally achieve since I had my mother, who is a complete shirt ninja, on hand to guide me on the finer points of the attachment.

I think the shirting might have some sort of sizing in it because it seems a bit stiffer than I would expect this type of shirting to be and it doesn't drape that well at present.  I think that is why the sleeves look a bit stiff and the whole thing has an un-ironed appearance (plus its been scrunched up in my lap whilst I sewed on the buttons).  However, I'm sure it will look much improved after a good wash and ironing it from damp.

Buttons are vintage glass ones from the amazing Duttons for Buttons in Harrogate.  The purple ones have already been on a different shirt that I made.  The clear ones were from a bag of mixed glass vintage buttons in which no two buttons are the same.  This approach seemed in keeping with the whole patchwork vibe.