Version: C with modifications
Sizing: 14
Fabric: 2 yrds rayon
Notion: snap
Assembly time: 3 hrs (not including the muslin)
Instructions: pretty straight-forward
Modification: turned the shirt to a dress by adding 7.75 inches; reduced bias width to 1.5 inches; piping at waist; elastic sheering at back waist; snap at bust
Recommend: no
One of my favorite things to have in my wardrobe is a crisp white shirt. That said, I have TWO well worn tops in need of replacement. When I saw Butterick 5956, I thought this would be the perfect pattern. Well, I was wrong. Cotton is NOT the fabric to use for this particular pattern. The cotton combined with the faux wrap and short sleeves creates awkward gapping, and the back has too much ease. Surprisingly, with all these "problems" I declared my first version a muslin and took what I learned to create a breezy summer dress. Which, I love!
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| a wreck of a muslin |
The learning process lead me to making a number of modifications. First, the length. In the muslin, I reduced the length by two inches. The shirt is really long as drafted, I would be tempted to reduce the length even more for a shirt version; however, for my final version, I extended the side seams by 7.75 inches in order for the hem to hit at the knee. To reduce the extra fabric in the back, I tested, on the muslin, installing elastic at the waist and delightfully found that the sheering works wonderfully since the fabric ease remains while holding a silhouette closer to the body. As for the bust line gap created when I moved my arms, I left the sleeves off and added a small snap to help keep the cross-over together.
Top-stitching finished the neck and arm holes after cutting bias stripes at 1.5 inches which were sewn with a .25 inch seam allowance. Piping was added to transition from the bodice and skirt, particularly since the print alignment would never match and could look a bit messy. The hem was finished at two inches with the help of the machine.
This pattern is extremely easy to make, however, the fabric which I and the pattern envelope recommend (challis, crape de chine, or voile) can be difficult to work with since it is slippery. Picking these types of fabric do work for this design better then stiffer fabrics like cotton. The shirt as drawn is very long, so shorten or length at your preference. We all have preferences, and I prefer my skirt version much more than the shirt.
Thoughtful of you to share what you learned about the pattern.
ReplyDeleteI've made this pattern twice, once in a Rose and Hubble cotton, which was very flattering. A friend asked me if I'd made it, and said I should go into business making them for other people! however, the second one was made from a very light cotton (holiday in Greece) and that was a disaster as every time I bent forward my bra (fortunately a very pretty lacy number) kept showing, on the first trip out, so it went back in my suitcase in disgrace. Once home, I stitched it up at the front, and it's fine now. I always put a back zip in my tops, to make them easier to put on and off, as I have arthritis, so I didn't need to worry about getting it on and off once stitched up!
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