Something new for me, but hey, why not? Striped linen from Burnley and Trowbridge and a Folkwear pattern that I bought a year or so ago …
inspired by this photo in Georgia O’Keeffe: Living Modern …
So I’ve started to try my hand at smocking …
And while I was at the library double checking the source of the GOK photo, I checked out Douglas Adams’ Hitchhikers Guideto the Galaxy … a book I somehow managed not to read back in the 1980s … and was struck by how much these two descriptions of President Zaphod Beeblebrox reminded me of Trump (click to enlarge images) …
Last for now, the grandkids have been out and about with their parents (who don’t show up here very often), all of them thankfully far away from the insane heat that is Texas …
This is what my oldest granddaughter calls a “Nana shirt” …
As always, I learned a lot along the way and lest I forget the lessons, this post is what I want to remember for the future.
I started with pattern size 14 based on my measurements (which is weird as I normally buy size 8 off the rack) …
The good news is that French seaming around the shoulders worked out well after I stitched the interior edge to the body of the shirt. Unfortunately, I realized that the shoulders were too broad. So I added shoulder darts rather than take everything apart (thank goodness for Google and YouTube videos) …
Shoulder with dart …interior with dart at top and shoulder seam below Note to self: this is a better shoulder width
Next time I’ll try trimming the shoulder and arm openings on the pattern to size 10 and enlarging the ends of the side seams to size 16 (rather than adding a gusset to accommodate my pear-shaped self).
I also ran into a problem because I chose not to use fusible lining, which resulted in a split in the facing at the bottom edge of the neck opening … so I patched it, but need a more elegant solution next time (and a shorter opening to better conceal my bra) …
On the plus side, the sleeves came out much to my liking, so I want to remember that I cut 11” x 2” cuffs, stitched them together along the short ends, folded them lengthwise right sides out, and pinned them to the inside of the sleeves with tucks on the outside to take in the extra volume …
After attaching each cuff to the sleeve with a combination running/backstitch, I turned the folded cuff edges to the outside, pinned and then secured them with a simple running stitch …
with this (less blurry) end result …
All things considered, I’m calling this a win. But I won’t wait long before trying again as there’s some Burnley & Trowbridge lightweight linen due to arrive in my mailbox today …
I decided to try doing French seams by hand. These are the shoulder seams, seen inside and out …
And here’s the front facing of the open neck, once again inside and out …
with a 2 cm appliqué pin for scale (that’s 13/16 of an inch for those of us in the US). Which reminds me, have I mentioned how much I love these tiny pins?
Last for now, I initially French seamed the sides, but realized the shirt wasn’t draping well (a little too tight through the hips, truth be told). So I unpicked the seams and created wedge-shaped inserts for each side, first hemming all the raw edges and then whip stitching the seams together …
Inside …detail Outside …detail
On the one hand, I don’t want this project to end as the cloth is a dream to stitch … then again, it should also be a dream to wear in the current Texas heat wave.
Next up: sleeves. And the current debate in my mind is whether to flat fell the armhole or stick with French seaming. Hmmmm …
I'm Going to Texas (version 2.0) 