13 Buttons on my Over-shirt from New Look 6449

Following the pattern acquisition from eBay, there was a couple purchased from Simplicity.com, New Look patterns that looked promising for over shirts.  The one used for this shirt was 6449, which, as it was designed to be an overshirt as well as a dress, has more ease.  My shirts so far are around 42" in the hips.  The popover shirt has barely enough ease, as much as the camp shirt, but the button down shirt (with the too-short sleeves) has the least.   My hips measure just under 40".  In other items, 42" might be enough ease, depending on the style and fabric.  In an overshirt that may be worn over a couple of layers of clothing, 42" is not enough.  This shirt, in a size 16, has a finished hip measurement of 45", according to the info on the pattern itself. Did you know that the current big four pattern style is to put the actual measurements on the pattern pieces?  That saves us from measuring and doing the math.

This shirt used 2.5 yards of Hokkoh Ternion Lawn, 44" wide (a mere 42" after prewashing), 100% cotton, purchased from the Confident Stitch for a total of $52.50.  As I wrote in my last post, it is the good stuff, a Japanese lawn so light it floats.    See this Seamwork post for information about sewing cotton lawn.  It is a lovely print, with all my favorite colors in it, green, blue, black, and khaki on off-white.  

It is quite soft and light but a bit crisp at the same time.  The pattern printed on the fabric does not follow the grain, a problem that was somewhat solved when cutting but still popped up during the sewing.  Any crookedness is the result of sloppy cutting or unaccounted pattern quirks.   One side of the neck needed to be trimmed 1/4" to have the collar sit at the same spot in the pattern.  The collar is sewn on with a 3/8" seam, something to note in the future when stay stitching the neck.

Before cutting, 2 1/2" was removed above the waist and 3" above the hem to approach a 30" length.  That should be tunic-length on me.  With the fronts, the back, the yoke and yoke facing (my addition, in a poly-cotton lining fabric) and the pockets cut, sewing began.  The pockets call for ribbon trim--a feature I did not notice before beginning the shirt.  It is amazing that though there is only one spool of 3/8" ribbon in my stash, it happens to match this fabric.  

Once the pockets were trimmed and sewn on, the shirt yoke, fronts, back and yoke facing  were assembled with no problems.  The back is pleated before attaching it to the yoke, but the pleat is not a full box pleat.  It is more like two small pleats that form a faux-box pleat.  This pattern calls for top stitching above the seam between the back and the yoke. It was a simple modification to seam the yoke facing to the shoulder seam allowances and pin the folded facing to the back seam.  The top stitching secured it in place, avoiding the burrito method.  Not that the burrito method doesn't work, it is just more trouble to me to pull the entire shirt body through the armhole than it is to either hand sew or top stitch one seam.

Next, the collar band (mandarin-style) was cut out and interfaced.  This is the piece that has only a 3/8" seam allowance.  Thank goodness I got trapped watching a (thankfully silent) sewing video about this pattern and wondered why they kept specifying sewing a 1 cm seam.

Cutting out the cuffs, button tabs and continuous lap pieces took ages.  That is mainly because I was matching the print, which doesn't run on grain.  The painstaking effort should pay off in appearance.  Cuffs were modified to be a bit deeper and not as large around--2 1/2" deep and just short of 10" around.  This meant deeper pleats in the sleeve and a tuck at the sleeve seam to make the sleeve fit the smaller cuff.  As with the body side seams, the sleeve seams were french seamed.   As with the collar, cuffs were hand sewn down on the inside prior to topstitching.  Of course, no matter how many pains taken, something isn't right.  The continuous lap on one sleeve wasn't folded under as it should have been.  It's going to stay that way, since the seam was trimmed and topstitched before the mistake was apparent.

After the cuffs were topstitched, the sleeves were attached.  It only took one go for the sleeve insertion this time, using my one row of basting method. The sewing didn't go quickly, but it went well.  The seam allowance was serged after double stitching the armhole.  Why not?  My rtw shirts have serged armhole seam allowances.  The bottom is hemmed with a narrow hem.  The button/buttonhole plackets are apparently not interfaced since they have 3 folds of fabric.  However, this fabric is so soft, it needed interfacing.  Due to the crooked print, there are still 3 layers of fabric in the placket, with the interfacing placed 1/4" in, the fabric folded over the interfacing and stitched down, securing the interfacing while the garment is being constructed.  The plackets are about 1 1/8" wide with prints that almost match.   Also, the sleeve tabs, -- this pattern has sleeve tabs!

The sleeve tabs make it possible to wear the sleeves rolled up without worry of them falling down.  The shirt is quite comfortable with the sleeves rolled up.  It's long enough to be a mini-dress, or at least a tunic.

But it also looks good as an over shirt.  And, yes, its nickname is 13 buttons.  It was supposed to take 14 buttons, but one wasn't needed when I shortened it.

The next time I make this pattern, which I hope will be soon, I will add enough to the back to make the pleat a full size pleat.    Also, maybe I will add a hanging loop above the pleat.  As it was, I almost didn't have enough of the 2 1/2 yards of fabric left for even that small additional piece.

That's all that was left after I pieced together the tie belt.  The belt might not ever be worn, but it looks ok, considering it has 4 pieces instead of two to make the length.  There was less than a yard of the spool of thread.  This shirt uses a lot of thread.  

Camp Shirt, Vintage Simplicity

On an episode of All Creatures Great and Small a few weeks ago, Mrs. Hall was wearing a camp collar shirt. On seeing it, inspiration struck and got me started on a pattern search.  The shirt was not a standard camp collar shirt pattern--it had gathers at the shoulders in the front.  Most camp collar shirts are plain fronts with gathers from a yoke in the back.  Some don't even have a yoke, but do rely on a more relaxed fit in the shoulders to make the usual gathers or pleats across the shoulders unnecessary.  A look through eBay yielded a couple of patterns that were close to the one she wore.  It was not a surprise that the two patterns turned out to be twins.

That one above is a size 16.  It was uncut and quite promising.  However, in order to be sure another option was available, my order included the one below.  It is a size 14 and has a photo that looks like the illustrations on the pattern above.  Once  they arrived, a close look identified identical patterns, the top one published in 1983 and the one below published in 1986.  With that conclusion, it was a simple decision to start with the larger size and the long sleeve option that would stay in keeping with my summer uniform plan.

Since it is one size, cutting it does no real harm, except to cut the cute little scissors in half.  The cute little sewing machine foot will not be cut.  Vintage patterns often have little features that amuse me.  The ruler was there to measure the actual position of the cut line.  For a precise 5/8" seam allowance, the pattern should be cut on the outside edge of the cut line.

The fabric, which is in the photo above, wrong side up, is a block print voile in yellow and gray from Common Thread in Taos.  There were 4 yards for a total cost of over $60, along with lining fabric, a batiste in poly and cotton purchased at Hobby Lobby for this project.  That was 2 yards of 45" wide fabric for $5.98.  With the lining used for the pocket skirt, there was enough left for the matching shirt.  At long last, this shirt meant sewing with the good stuff.

The pocket skirt used the same construction as before but in a size 12.  The fit is good.  Another version could go smaller and reduce the pocket gape to have a slim fit, but this is great as is.  It was worn to the Sewing and Quilt Expo recently and held up well.  That excursion yielded a nice little button stash courtesy of one of the vendors.  She sells them for ten cents a button, but you have to search through the bins to find matching ones.  She will actually do the searching for you, but my cousin and I found several matching sets quickly enough. (trimsonwheels.com if you are needing buttons)

After the skirt was finished, the shirt was begun by applying interfacing to the fronts and sewing the pocket onto the left side.  The pocket is very cute, but quite small.  Next, the fronts and back were assembled and sewn together according to instructions.  

Following that, the collar was attached.  This is a camp collar, different from a collar with a stand, or a Mandarin collar, which is just a stand with no collar.  There's no neck facing.  After mistakenly sewing the front facings on the wrong side, let me remind myself that the facings have to be sewn on the right side, wrong side out, and turned to the wrong side (the inside of the shirt).  Once they were picked out and sewn correctly, they refused to lay flat.  Even after pressing, it was better, but there is a small kink in the lapel.

The sleeves are nice, fairly full with a nice narrow cuff.  The cuff attachment was a bit fussy because there is only a simple hemmed gap for a placket.  It definitely would be improved by a continuous lap bias binding.  As it is, the cuffs are tight, only widened an inch when unbuttoned due to the small gap.  The sleeves were attached with the old style, one row of gathering thread, eased in, pin basted, sewn twice and serged. It is my preference rather than the pattern instructions.  Whether it is the familiar comfort of it or the simplicity, this method is easier for me, even though there might be a pleat or two that has to be picked out and restitched.

The hem is straight, turned up all the way around through the front facing.  Again, this is my option, requiring that the front facing be folded over and sewn down to the shirt by hand.  The rest was secured by the buttons and buttonholes.  Just to be sure it is secured, the interfacing was catch-stitched down.  There is no topstitching to hold the facing in place.

The relaxed fit is comfortable.  This is a good pattern in a nice lightweight fabric.  The two pieces will work with several items in my closet.  Although sets are popular now, they don't have to be worn together.  The print is directional, but there wasn't enough fabric to cut both pieces if they were cut correctly.  Anyway, what is correct--which way should those flowers go?