The Florence Shirt by Jalie, a troublesome toile

It seemed like it would be fun to sew up a shirt in a paneled print, playing with the print, placing a stripe here, a rectangle there.  However, this wonderful slinky rayon crepe was a nightmare to cut, only somewhat manageable with a rotary cutter on a single layer.   Luckily, it was easy to sew and a dream to wear.  It does seem a bit crinkly, so it might stretch out with washing and wearing, as crinkle rayons do.  

The 6 24" panels of Dark Navy/Camel/Pearl White/Multi 100% Rayon Diamond Framework Print Challis, 56" wide, were $24, bought from Fabric Mart for McCall's 7650. That pattern lists rayon challis.  However, this is more of a rayon crepe.  It would work for that pattern, but I was discouraged from making that dress by some pattern reviews.  The dress back has no structure to support a drapey rayon fabric.  

Florence Shirt by Jalie in Rayon 

The Florence Shirt has structure in its collar, back yoke and plackets.  For further support, the pocket instructions prompted me to interface the pocket hem as well as the usual interfacing on the collar and plackets.  As additional support, bias binding was added to the pocket hem, plackets and shoulders.  There won't be any unraveling there.  The neck and sleeve edges have bands that enclose the seam allowances.  At least, the collar is intended to enclose the allowance, the sleeve bands are not.  However, it was a simple mod to turn the band seam allowance down and stitch in the ditch to secure it over the sleeve seam allowance.  The side seams were pinked and pressed open.  French seams would have been better there, but there's not enough seam allowance for that.

The 3/8" seam allowance is the start of my issues with the Jalie pattern format.  A 3/8" allowance is good for knits because it saves a bit of fabric and the trouble of trimming.  With woven fabrics, edge treatments, either French seams, Hong Kong finishes, or overcast edges, are often needed.  A 5/8" seam allowance is essential for these finishes.  Additionally, because the pattern is intended to be traced off, the paper is too thick for cutting.  The instructions are clear and helpful.  Some minor steps are omitted, such as seam finishes, pressing directions, etc.   For example, the buttonholes are not marked on the pattern piece.  A chart is provided for button placement for the dress option.  If there is one for the shirt, it is lost now.  (The buttonhole layout is my own, I explain below.)   For those who like to trace patterns to save the original, don't mind a narrow seam allowance, and never refer to instructions, the format is good.  The design is great and overcomes the pattern's shortfalls.

The construction is easy to understand.  Assembly went as directed, with only one mistake on my part--attaching the collar in reverse of the instructions.  The instructions are to sew the inner collar facing onto the shirt, then top stitch down the collar on the right side.  Instead, I sewed the right side of the collar down, then top stitched the collar, catching the facing in the top stitching.  As a result, I had to hand sew down a portion of the collar that did not get caught in the top stitching.  The instructed method would have been easier.  

3/8" buttons
(The diagonals are part of the pockets!)

In spite of a vague memory of a chart for button placement for the shirt, I could only find one for the dress.  Even though the dress button placement chart was helpful, there's fewer buttons on the shirt.  With my placement, there are fewer buttons than recommended for the shirt.  However, that is not the only buttonhole problem.  Even after realizing that the buttons are to be sewn horizontally for the collar and vertically for the band, I still forgot and sewed them all horizontally.  It seemed the correct way because the buttonholes for my Vogue top are vertical and the buttons make them gape out around the thread shank.  That could be caused by the 4-hole buttons, but also by the direction of the slide.  These are two-hole buttons.  It just seems to me that for the horizontal shank created by the two-hole button, it is better to allow the button to slide to the end of the buttonhole where it naturally wants to sit.  There is a round-ended buttonhole style in my machine that is recommended for lightweight fabrics.  These would be an option for a repeat of this pattern.  Will there be a repeat?  Look:  

On the end result, wow.  The drape, the fit, the back pleat, are all winners.  Both the plackets and the collar are smooth and a perfect fit.  Truly the only detraction is the print.  The print of the fabric is busy.  The pockets are of questionable use and my decision to bias cut them and place the largest design across the diagonal was overkill.  Nonetheless, the pockets are striking and may add more to the shirt than I realize.  They are definitely a wow.  But a wow that I need to become comfortable with.  The back is fabulous enough to compensate for the overwhelming pockets.  Not bad for a toile, especially one that used only half of the fabric.

p.s. Those are the pants from my last post.

I Dare Pants with New Look 6458

I have not worn pants for a few years now.  I just gave them up once I deemed jeans were no longer comfortable.  True, I did buy a couple of pairs of cotton cropped trousers when they first came into fashion.  They hang in my closet still because I successfully upcycled a pair of double-gauze capris into a skirt when upcycling was how I sewed.  I keep thinking I will upcycle the trousers into skirts, but pause when I remember that upcycling is more work than cutting and sewing.  After all, the garment has to be almost completely taken apart before the cutting and sewing starts.  That is an extra step.  It might be good for the planet if the end result is wearable, but wearability is more of a risk when there is no pattern to follow.  

Once I dropped upcycling, I started buying fabric and patterns, concentrating on the main gap in my wardrobe--skirts.  Since my entire wardrobe was built around blue jeans and tops, the economical approach was to add skirts.  I tried to by skirts but found it difficult.  A case in point were the 3  hours I spent at a San Francisco area outlet mall that yielded only two skirts, both gray.  I figured if I can't find skirts in any store in a big city mall, skirts are just not available.  After that, I began upcycling jeans into skirts and fell into sewing full tilt during the lockdown.  Now, I have a fairly full closet.  (Which is why there's been no sewing since June.)  However, there are no pants in it.  At least, none that I wear.  With cold weather approaching, I dared to try sewing a pair of warm, comfy pants. 

My wearable toile used 3 yards Prussian Blue Poly/Lycra brushed sweater knit.  ($3/yd., 58" wide. $9 FM)  The only pants pattern I have for knit fabric came with one of my most-used basic skirt, top and dress patterns, New Look 6458.  Since I have used this pattern repeatedly, I felt confident with a size 16.  A size 14 would be a more flattering fit, but these should be comfy, not cute.  Well, cute won't hurt, but a brushed "sweater" knit does not promise a flattering fit.  If I like these and wear them, there's other knits in my stash that can be cut to a size 14.  

Once cut, there were no markings to be transferred.  The pieces went together in less than an hour, even with the oh-so slow stretch stitch.  For the waistband and hems, there was a heavy ribbed knit fabric from JA, 1 yard Cream athleisure rib, 43", 90% nylon/10% spandex, $10.46.  The cuffs and waistband used less than 5", call it $2, for a total of $12.50 or so.  Although the ribbing is labeled machine wash gentle cold, tumble dry low, the brushed poly knit is gentle wash.  I washed them in cold water, shorter cycle and hung to dry.  There's no agitator in my top loader so it is gentle enough.  

My new stretch twin needle performed well as long as there was the stiffer ribbing under the needle in the mix somewhere to reduce the tunneling.  The hems are twin needled, but the less visible waistband was attached with a stretch zig-zag stitch.  The three layers of the seam allowances were stitched together with the same in an effort to keep them turned in the proper direction--down for the waistband, up for the hems.  

All in all, a neat and comfortable finish.  Matching the ribbing color to the main fabric would dress it up a bit, but this one is fine for these casual pants.  

Here is a flat lay for now, there will be another photo of these pants when the coordinating shirt is done.