Here is yet another shirt pattern worth trying. It is a more masculine approach but sized for a woman. For this first try, there is 1 1/2 yards of Latte Lyocell from JoAnns, at a total cost of $13.20. It was transformed from smooth and silky to thick and wrinkly by the prewashing. That transformation, and the worry that it might not be enough, even though it is 54" wide, led me to combine it with the leftover 100% silk jacquard. There's a top made up in this fabric that can be worn with the shirt. Altogether, the piece cost $32.38 from Taos Quilting. The top will work better with the shirt without the sleeves, inspiring me to transform it into a cap-sleeve top. Once the sleeves are removed, a sleeve band might be a nice addition.
As far as interfacing, there's some featherweight sew in interfacing for the silk and the same in a fusible for the rayon. As usual, the fusible interfacing seems heavier. Is it due to the glue or simply that the glue must be applied to a heavier fabric than the sew in interfacing?
The pattern, New Look 6232, actually offers only one classic shirt version. The basic design varies in that there is a men's shirt and a women's shirt, with two views of each. View D, one of the women's views, has contrast collar, cuffs and placket. The back is not pleated but there are darts. View B, the men's version, has contrast only on the inner cuffs, collar and button placket. The back is pleated. This approach still limits the amount of main fabric needed, but the design doesn't carry through on an overshirt. Since the shirt is worn unbuttoned, both plackets are exposed. Cuffs and collar should match. Collar band, band facing and collar facing could be in either fabric, as long as the turned down collar is in the contrasting fabric. With these options in mind, it was time to place the pattern pieces on the fabric.
As it turned out, there was enough rayon for all the body pieces, leaving the cuffs and the button and button hole bands to be cut from the silk. The collar and collar band are cut from both--one collar and band in silk and one set in rayon. The rayon will be the facing or lower pieces and the silk the upper pieces. The yoke facing was cut from the silk. (The color in the first two photos is off, but the details are visible.)
Once the pockets were prepped, there was an oops moment when I realized the dart should be sewn first. Even though the darts needed to be a little lower (1/4" lower was the aim, but it was maybe only 1/8" in the end), the pockets don't sit over the darts. That's a relief. Darts distort the fabric enough to make the pockets more difficult to sew on. After the darts in the back were sewn in, no cuts were made to make them lay flat. (While the pattern suggests cutting across the middle to release, some suggest cutting open and pressing flat.) Probably the pliable rayon was easier to shape than cotton would have been.
The pattern has the yoke attached to fronts and back with the burrito method. The turning out to the right side was much easier than the last time I tried the burrito method, probably because with this pattern, in a size 18, the yoke is deeper and the armholes are larger. The slippery rayon and silk pulled right through.
The tower plackets in the sleeves were difficult to construct. However, after following the pattern instructions for the first sleeve and watching a couple of you tube videos on tower plackets, the first one was only slightly bumpy. The second one (after a couple more videos) was much smoother--except it seemed that the grain on the placket wasn't straight. It might have been a distortion of the rayon, which has raised warp lines along it, or more likely, the second placket was on the bottom layer and the grain was not aligned with the top layer. Either way, with the folds and seams straighter, the second placket looks a little off. Overall, it doesn't matter because the rayon is a dream to iron. Ironing it erases all of my errors.
The attachment of the sleeves to the body was so easy. This shirt is constructed like a hand-knitted sweater. The sleeves are sewn in before the size seams are sewn. Then the sleeve and side seams are sewn as one. Finally, the cuffs are attached. Quite different from the other shirt patterns I have tried and much easier. The construction success distracted me from top stitching the shoulder at the sleeve seam once the sleeve was sewn in. Once I realized the omission, I had already sewn the side and sleeve seam and decided skip the top stitching.
On attaching the button plackets, one video suggested attaching the button hole band to the wrong side and the button band to the right side. Since this method provides for an unattached edge on the buttonhole band, similar to RTW, that's the method I followed. Bands are 1 1/2" wide. Cuffs should be buttoned at 9" circumference. Actually, they could be 8", but my watch doesn't fit under the smaller cuff. Even though working with the silk is difficult, the silk was worth the effort. The silk on the inside of the cuffs and yoke feels so very smooth. I'm now convinced that every shirt should be lined in silk. Additionally, the rayon has now reverted to its original smooth feel. It must have responded to the handling during the construction process. Regardless, this shirt won't see much water. Neither the rayon nor the silk responds well to a washing.
With the collar attached and the facing hand sewn and topstitched down, this shirt is complete. The combination of hand sewing and topstitching looks a bit messy here. The silk pulled over from the hand stitching, making tiny ripples in the fabric. I see this effect much less on the cotton shirts, but it is still there. Probably one or the other method of securing a facing should prevail--either eliminating the top stitching or managing to top stitch neatly with just pins, rather than hand sewing to secure the facing down first. Nonetheless, this is the best collar turn of all collared shirt patterns I have tried. Look how it just sits so perfectly. It's not ironed out like that, it just turns out naturally. Is it the fabric or the cut? I plan to use this pattern again in other fabrics, so that question will be answered when I use this pattern in other fabrics. This is a size 16 in the bodice graded to a size 18 in the hips. It turned out a bit too oversized. The next one should be at least one size smaller--a size 16 everywhere. No modeled shots, sorry, it is just too big--but comfy.
Checking this one against other shirts I have now made, it is apparent that 27" is the ideal shirt length for me.
I am considering this "ideal" shirt construction. This one could be the ideal, or it might need to borrow some features from the other shirts I have made. Based on this morning's try on, the traditional banded collar is a better fit than the camp collar. Possibly a fuller sleeve with a small band, similar to the blouse option on the camp collar pattern, is simpler to construct and therefore better. For an overshirt, the fuller sleeve and certainly a larger armhole is desirable. Definitely sewing in the sleeve before the arm and shirt seams is simpler construction. Whether there should be top stitching on those seams is undetermined, although it could be done after serging and make a super neat finish. But Hong Kong finish or French seams would be nice in a lighter weight material. Either of those seams could be top stitched. Another finish I'd like to try is a bias band over the inside seam between the collar band and yoke. With this pattern, those extra efforts would be worthwhile.
