Synchronicity

~ Liz A

I had to smile when Deb G posted about handsewing a linen top. Just one day before I had gotten a notion to try handsewing a shirt, thinking perhaps the reason I’ve long avoided garment making was simply an aversion to machine sewing.

What little I knew about making clothing involved going to a fabric store, picking out a pattern and buying cloth. So that’s where I started … gasping when I learned a Simplicity pattern would set me back $20.

And here’s where I ended up …

I honestly enjoyed the process (more about that in a minute), but I quickly realized how very much more I needed to know than what was included in the written pattern instructions, which were absolutely mute on anything to do with hand sewing.

So I went back to Deb G’s post and started digging for books and online videos about hand sewing garments. Then decided in the meantime to work with what I had in order to have a foundation on which to build more knowledge.

Here I pause to confess that handsewing a shirt was not a new notion. Some years back, while reading up on Georgia O’Keeffe, I learned that she was an accomplished seamstress. At the time I thought it would be incredibly cool to make some of the same clothing that she wore … a crisp white linen shirt perhaps. But I came up empty when I tried to find a pattern and that’s where I left it.

Anyway, I started my recent quest with unbleached cotton muslin and quickly realized I wouldn’t be following the recipe dictated by the pattern when it called for fusible interfacing. Bah! I couldn’t see any reason for that, so I simply stitched the front facing without it …

I batted .500 when it came to the shoulder and sleeve seams (definitely my untidiest outcome) …

Patted myself on the back for coming up with a sturdy solution to the split side seams …

And likewise cobbled my way to a cuff that wasn’t at all like the simple hem called for in the pattern directions …

Now I’m impatiently waiting for books to arrive in hopes they will take me to the next level. Already I’m envisioning a flannel nightshirt and a pintucked boho patchwork smock.

And and and … what fun!

28 thoughts on “Synchronicity”

  1. Liz~ I am amazed at what you can do when you put your mind to it!! The shirt looks great…such fine stitching…but also, it looks so cool and comfortable (always my go to – comfort). Congrats!

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    1. it’s as comfortable as new cloth can be … which is to say it needs to go through a couple of dozen wash cycles … but I’m pleasantly surprised at how well it fits and feels

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  3. Yard sales and esp estate sales are great places to find older patterns for a lot less dinero 🙂
    I’ve come across a lot from the 60s/70s — great ole peasant blouse/dress/tunic styling…

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  4. Well I smiled when i saw your hand stitched shirt, not because I had made one or even plan to but because it looks so much like one I bought at a local thrift store last week. I’ve got family coming next month and at the end of Sept and Oct. and these are hot months so I decided I needed a few cooler tops and slacks.. I wanted a white loose shirt with a slit opening in front and I found one for $4…it is cotton, not linen but the “cool” thing about it is that it has white embroidery in different places, like a shirt from Greece. it has been washed and is waiting to be ironed. But nothing compares I’m sure wearing a garment made by your own hands. Yours is not only stylish but oh so practical given your Texas heat!

    And just to say, you can now add garment maker to your resume for the classes that you will teach in the future.

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    1. It occurs to me that I could have bought multiples of this shirt at the thrift store with the money I spent on the pattern alone … but it wouldn’t have been nearly as much fun 😉

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  5. A huge wow from here! It looks fantastic! I think I have always been put off because I think it would take me months…altho I did hand sew some pockets into a skirt I made recently out of a tunic which wasn’t working. Small steps.

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    1. I just went to take a look and realized I’ve been there before … a wonderful site …

      I have been in touch with Sarah Woodyard before and put the idea to her of a class on hand sewing a Georgia O’Keeffe shirt … she was interested and I’m hoping it may come to pass some day

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  7. Go Liz!!! 🙂 I forgot about Tatter and their classes on hand sewing. And good grief about the Simplicity pattern. The only patterns I’ve bought in the last 20 years have been from independent designers and I don’t begrudge them a penny of what they charge. They generally have much better written directions. What I have found about sewing clothes is that there are numerous ways to do things and the more sewing I’ve done, the more I’ve settled into how I do it. Another recommendation… Cal Patch (https://calpatch.com/). And I love synchronicity…. 🙂

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    1. Oh this is perfect … just put a hold on the Cal Patch book at the Austin Public Library (Texas is benighted in many many ways, but they have awesome librarians who enable residents from small towns to get cards at the major metro libraries via TexShare)

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  8. A good basic pattern- collars sleeves etc and you can make just about ANY shirt you want. I am shit on machine sewing clothing but now you have me wanting to make a shirt. I plan on drawing a pattern for the LLBean Vintage Camp Shirt I adore. Make one. I’ll let you know how it goes……

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  9. wow, that is one awesome shirt Liz, beautiful in it’s ‘simplicity’
    the only piece of clothing I have hand-sewn with a pattern was a Merchant & Mills dress; in fact I made it twice, one a cotton version the other in silk
    following the pattern was really tough for me, as I didn’t know what I was doing, but I found I got to understand the instructions once I stopped thinking and just did as instructed, second time ’round was of course a little easier

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    1. following directions is a weak point for me … I am a tried and true what-iffer … that said, I did find myself having to backtrack a couple of times when I didn’t pay close enough attention …

      P.S. Thanks for putting me on to Merchant & Mills … I’ve reserved two of their books from the library

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    1. this is my go-to “style” (my only style, if truth be told) … there’s good reason why my granddaughter calls these “Nana shirts”

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  12. This is so incredible. The stitching..so simple and natural. When living close to the Amish and often visiting their grocery I would be all eyes checking out their garments. I wonder if they used paper patterns. Anxious for where you take all this. I’d so wear this.

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    1. I’ve been tempted to look into early 20th century sewing books to see if I could draft my own patterns … I’m thinking a pattern that gets used over and over again would last longer if I was traced onto muslin, but I’m not sure if that would be considered wasteful … hmmm, more to learn

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