I'll sew you

This was an easy but very satisfying project. I have to say 'thumbs up' for the fit of this design. I just had to add a little bit of width at the hip and some at the sleeves (but that's a normal adjustment for me). That was all. I also narrowd the neckline because it was a bit too wide to my taste. The ruched sleeves are not very noticeable in the front, but are still a nice feature on this - let's face it - otherwise rather plain shirt. My favourite way to finish a neckline, with a binding: You can't see it in the linedrawing but for the sizes 46 and up, they added length to the front-pattern at bustheight. By gathering this surplus of fabric - we're talking about approximately 2 cm (5/6") over a length of 14,5 cm  (5 2/3") for size 46, you create some extra space and shape in that area. I wouldn't call this an FBA, but an SBBA (Slightly Bigger Bust Adjustment - Yep, I made that up)....

While it's raining cats and dogs outside, I'm thinking about summersewing. So I looked up some old magazines and found an issue of Ottobre Design (Spring/Summer 2012) that I once got as a birthdaypresent from my sister-in-law. There are some interesting designs in this issue but I never came round to sew with these patterns. Browsing through the magazine, my eyes were immediately drawn to this shirt: Not very difficult to make and not a lot of work. Exactly the kind of project I need after the outcome of the green cardigan. Besides that, I like the ruffled sleeves. My narrow shoulders could do with some extra room in that area. The instruction for sewing the sleeves is rather unpractical. They tell you to sew the elastic (to ruffle the sleeve), onto one side of the (open) seam. Then close the seam while stretching the elasticated side to accommodate the other side. Wháát?? No way I'm gonna do it like that. I'll just close the seam and sew the elastic on the sea...

Well, what can I say about this? That's a rhetorical question of course. What can you nót say about it? It has draglines in the front (FBA-fail) and folds in the back, both sleeves and bodice are too short, sleeves look twisted, also the sleeve-inset is weird and shows lines where there aren't supposed to be any,  I did not use the right colour of thread because I didn't have it in my stash and I was too lazy to go out to buy some. And to top it all off: when I cut through the buttonholes, two of them got damaged in the stitches. Two!! How did that happen?? Oh, and I had to rethread my serger about 8 times before it finally stopped snapping the thread. In my previous post I was telling you how proud I was that I finally mastered the famous FBA. I have to rephrase that (hangs head in embarrassement...) Let's just say I understand some of the technique but not enough to make it work. Not yet anyway. The good news? I didn't give up and persevered to...