I've been wanting to move my blog away from Blogspot for a while but could never be bothered to actually do it. This week was the tipping point though, and I've now fully migrated over to https://patsypoomakes.wordpress.com/ . The blogspot address will remain here but all new posts will only appear at https://patsypoomakes.wordpress.com/ . There are lots of reasons for the move but my biggest one is how hard Blogger has made it for people to subscribe to receive new posts via email. It's such a basic requirement but apparently, they think it's too much to offer. I'm basing this purely on how I myself prefer to consume this stuff. I can't be arsed with feed readers anymore and emails are easy and convenient. When I receive one, if I fancy reading it, I will click through to it and, if not, I'll just delete it. Another reason is the spat between Google (owners of Blogger) and Instagram/Facebook/Meta. I don't even know if this is still the case anymore ...
Are you sick of my shirts yet? If the answer is yes you might wanna skip this one. But before you do, I will say one thing: this shirt is unlike any shirt I've ever made. In so many ways.
Okay, so if you're sticking with me, I'm talking about the Willamette shirt by Hey June Handmade. They have been on my radar since I saw this post on April's blog. I hadn't heard of them until then but once I checked them out, I liked quite a few of their patterns. They're all wardrobe staples but with little details that make them interesting or different in some way. I love when pattern companies do that.
The fabric I picked is another Atelier Brunette, this time it's the Terrazzo Night cotton gauze. I bought this at Fabricate last year, with no project in mind, just because it was on offer during Sew Saturday. I'm such a sucker for a deal! This fabric is delicious! I am going to live in this shirt once the weather warms up. It's very light and airy and I love the colours. Due to the fabric print, I thought the pockets might get lost in it so I didn't bother adding them. Question: other than to keep the odd pen in, does anyone actually use breast pockets on shirts?
Right. Let's get to the good stuff: construction. The instructions were great. Very clear and detailed. They even give you 3 choices of pleats for the back: inverted, pinched (what I did) or diagonal.
The finishing is very neat. All the seams are enclosed, except for the skirt one; which wouldn't have worked anyway since the plackets would've been far too bulky for French seams. I had never sewn a burrito yoke with a one-piece collar before but it was super satisfying to do. This shirt was so much fun!
The front plackets are sewn together and topstitched. You can see that better in the photo below. The pattern has the option to add a button and buttonhole just above it, for a more modest neckline. I didn't want the button so I topstitched an inch further than the pattern markings instead. My topstitching is a bit wonky, actually. It's narrower at the bottom. 😩 I don't really care because no one will be able to tell. But if you can tell, what the hell kind of a weirdo are you?!
I did slip up on my choice of interfacing though. I picked up my preferred collar weight one and went with it. But I should've thought about how much softer a casual one-piece collar is than a structured traditional collar. I foolishly used the same interfacing for my placket facings, too, and it is a little too stiff for that. Silly me! I need to remember to switch on the brains for next time...
I had a near-miss with my overlocker as well. I was finishing the cuff seam on one sleeve and my overlocker ate a bit of the cuff! 😖 Unpicking that bit of seam to assess the damage was the longest 5 minutes of my life! Luckily, only the inside had been damaged, so I slapped a scrap of interfacing on it and, once it's turned over, it can't be seen. Phew! Such a relief!
I can't wait to make this again. I have plans for at least a couple more. It was such a fun pattern to make. And it came together very quickly as well. If I knuckle down I bet I could get it done in one afternoon. I'm very pleased with how it turned out and I had lots of fun while making it.
Have I mentioned how much I love making shirts?