Style Arc Monty Shirt and Dress

This is another Style Arc Monty Shirt. I’ve made it twice before but this time I wanted a neutral solid colour blouse to go with my patterned work trousers.
It has to be said that being one of the older Style Arc patterns, the instructions are pretty poor, and I was still not able to sew the collar part using the Style Arc instructions alone.
Thankfully TomKatStitchery has a 6 part sew along on YouTube. This, along with the instruction images, got me through the collar!
I knew the shirt came up cropped so as before I added 10cm to the length to the pattern pieces. I’ve turned up the bottom using a 3cm deep hem.
The Monty Shirt Style Arc pattern only provided finished garment measurements, and not a sizing table, so the first thing you have to do is work out what size you need based on the amount of ease you want. Helpfully there is a Women’s Size Chart as one of the images for this pattern on the Foldline site.
For a shirt it’s a relatively quick make with a grown on short sleeve (no cuffs!) and no separate button band.
The medium weight crepe was perfect for this swingy boxy top. More images and details on my blog post

This is the Style Arc Monty Shirt. It comes as a dress too.

It's been saved on my Instagram for simply ages.

I made 2, one for work and one for a 70's themed Fancy Dress party!

I love them both and I'll get so much use from the black and white one this summer at work.

During my research I read that other sewers have been underwhelmed by the position of the fake pocket flaps on the bust, but I liked them.

I could not have sewn this shirt up using the Style Arc instructions alone. I think if you had made up a jacket or two using this type of collar construction, you would be fine but I have only done it once before so whilst the technique seemed familiar it was not intuitive.

TomKatStitchery to the rescue with her 6 part sew along! This, along with the instruction images, got me through the collar!

I knew the shirt came up cropped. I added 10cm to the length to the pattern pieces. I've turned up the bottom using a 3cm deep hem. I intend to wear this hanging over the top of my trousers for work as it gets warmer but you would need to lengthen it further for tucking in.

Size chosen in accordance with my bust measurement.

There's more details and images on my blog here

I have been sewing for over 50 years and I have never bought a pattern with such terrible instructions. It is such a shame as the style of the blouse is so lovely and ought to be quite easy to make. I really struggled to understand how to do the collar so I checked with a you tube site and worked it out quite easily then. Luckily I had decided to make a toile first of all which I think I would recommend others to do. The garment worked out really well, but my brain was a bit over worked unnecessarily !!! Definitely a pattern for more experienced sewers.

I made the Monty shirt as my first Style Arc pattern, and boy did I struggle with it! I've been sewing for 50+ years, and I figured it couldn't be too hard without instructions, as I've made button down collared shirts before. But I struggled with this, and in the end, I just tossed the instruction sheet and made it up as I went along.  I ended up slip stitching the upper collar to the neckline, and whip stitching the facing seam over the shoulder seam to cover the unfinished part of the collar. In the end, I love the shirt, and I might make another one. I took off one star for the sparse instructions.