I finished my second handmade shirt for Isabel last weekend. It’s still an obvious mess, but, compared to my first finished shirt, it went much easier. Everything went more quickly because I understood how the pieces fit together; therefore the steps of construction flowed logically into one another. I was also more comfortable with hand sewing in general, so I made smaller and more even stitches and fewer mistakes. I guess my skills really were developing during those six months that I was avoiding my sewing kit!
For comparison, here’s the first shirt I made. Tight arms, oversize collar, obviously uneven hem, and haphazard stitching are readily apparent. Also…who thought it was a good idea to take the pictures against a fluorescent green background?! :p
Here’s shirt #2, the meretriciousness of which is complemented by a radioactive magenta wig and gold stretchy jeans. I scaled up the pattern slightly, from 80% of original size for shirt #1 to 90% of original for shirt#2, so the fit has improved, especially in the sleeves.Stitching is more even all around, with better finishing. Smaller collar looks more in scale. Hem looks uneven, even though it’s not, because of odd snap placement.I’m more pleased with shirt #2 than with shirt #1. The colors work better together, and it’s better made overall. I wish that it wasn’t so bulky and boxy, especially around the upper torso, but the fit is a function of the pattern, which essentially double-layers both front panels. I see now that I chose a somewhat advanced pattern for my first hand-sewing attempts, and I probably could have gotten more success and less frustration from something simpler [and less bulky], but I’ve come too far with Andrea’s pattern to drop back to something easier at the moment. I have two more shirts in the same style to finish, and then I might find a different pattern. First things first though…
