Tropical Melilot Shirt

 

Today, we are talking shirts. how much I love wearing them, less so making them!

This is my Deer and Doe Melilot in just about the most eye watering print I think i've ever made anything in. 

Ever.

This was a wearable muslin from a Kauffmann Cotton Lawn I got back in the Minerva Craft Blogging Days.

The fabric I have earmarked for my proper version is my Atelier Brunette Bye Bye Birdie in Sky, but I wanted to check the fit. 

I've worn this shirt so much more than I had planned to, the print is almost tropical and on a lovely sunny day its great to chuck on and wear open.

I am ridiculously excited in these photos, mainly because I'm at Virginia Woolf's house in Rodmell.

Its not too far away from home but i'd never been before. The garden is stunning but sadly you can only see three rooms in the house. 

The flowers were perfect and I skipped happily through the orchard, past Virginia's writing hut investigating what fruit they had growing. 

(Piemaker had to put up with me squealing at him when I saw a Mulberry tree, cue epic eye rolls!)

This being a wearable muslin, I paid absolutely no attention whatsoever to the print matching on this shirt, but it turned out rather well. I cut a 42 and I could go down a size through the side seams but I wouldn't want to mess with the fit at the sleeve too much. This style sleeve works well for my narrow shoulders but the cuff detail takes some getting used to. Due to the sort of cantilever effect of the sleeve pulling downwards, it peaks the top of the cuff a little. 

It gives it nice shape, but it feels a bit odd to wear at first.

I'm loving the shaping or lack of, in this shirt and the print doesn't overwhelm as I thought it would.

Construction wise this was a pretty easy make. I opted for the short kimono style sleeve rather than faff with tower plackets on the long version.

The only thing fancy I went for was the invisible button placket.

Now i've made a couple before this but this one had me flummoxed! The diagram wasn't giving me any answers and in the end Piemaker's origami skills were drafted in. He would fold one bit and tell me to stitch. I'd run back to the machine and back to him for the next fold. 

Haphazard but hey, it worked!

I will be making this shirt again and I might even entertain the tower plackets, but I think I can live without the invisible placket.

It did come in handy towards the end though, did you spot I did horizontal buttonholes?

I'm calling it a design choice!