Versatile, but be prepared to make changes

I was really pleased to find this pattern – I could see lots of possibilities to vary the neck, collar height, sleeve length etc.

The things I love about this pattern are the depth and shaping of the front facing, and the ease at which the sleeves fit into the body – the pattern recommends the usual gathering of sleeve head to ease it in, but it was not necessary, it went in beautifully. As a whole the pattern fitted together nicely and was a straightforward and enjoyable sew.

So why not 5 stars then? I think this probably applies to a lot of patterns, in that we are all different body shapes, and if it’d been the right body shape for me, I wouldn’t have needed to change it so much.  I’ve now made it 4 times: in linen, in cotton lawn, and two versions in quilting weight cotton for winter. Here is my linen version:  Its not the most flattering garment on me. So the first change was to add bust darts.

I also wanted to make some changes to the collar – the neck is cut high at the front and low at the back – and this is really not just me, its on lots of people’s versions all over Instagram too. Put a cardigan or jumper over it, and the collar disappears down the back and looks very strange. So, I recut both back yoke pieces to sort that out, as there wasn’t enough seam allowance to bring it to the right level. Then redrew the front neck curve. The 3rd change was to make the shoulder line a lot less sloping, which took out the bagginess round the neck. This was a hugely satisfying change to make, the whole shirt fitted so much better once Id done that, and I felt I learned something important! Almost giving it 5 stars now!

So, other changes … the instructions say to gather the back into the lower yoke – I just did a classic inverted pleat at CB to take in the fullness. I drew another sleeve pattern piece to create a 3/4 length sleeve.

Fabrics – Im happiest with the cotton lawn version – the lightness of the fabric suits the pattern. The heavier quilting cotton gives a stiffer result, so on version 3, I curved my side seams to give a better fit.

Its easy to adapt this to a collarless version – altho the pattern doesnt give instructions for this. Just a case of changing the order of steps in the pattern, to sew shoulder seam and back neckline in one, and then attach the back piece to the yokes afterwards.

With all this fannying around, Ive actually changed every single piece of the pattern from its original! (I made the collar a bit thinner on version 2 and 3). But isnt that why sewing is fun?

Id recommend this pattern. Give it a try.