Completed: The Plaid Clusterf-
The real name for this shirt is actually The Plaid Clusterfuck. I wanted to put it in the title of this post, but I realize that a lot of people have my blog linked so that the titles show on their blog and I don’t want to make anyone mad soooo YOU’RE WELCOME. Also, meet the Plaid Clusterfuck, as well as my unstyled hair. I like to call it my Brentwood Soccer Mom hair.
Princess seams, bias side panels, and a front ruffle? DON’T MIND IF I DO.
Oh, do you like my little sewing corner? I did some freshening up in the ol’ sewing room over Thanksgiving weekend. I got a second desk from Lauren Winter, painted it a really obnoxious shade of teal green (and I will never do that again. SOO many coats, even with a primer, and it’s STILL not solid! BOO), and also touched up the mint desk as it was filthy with dirty kitty paw prints. Next order of business is to deal with the other side, where my fabric is stored. Mama needs more shelves, wah!
This is McCall’s 5803, which is so out of print, it’s not even in the out of print section of the McCall’s website. Also, it is a Hilary Duff pattern. Remember when she tried to do that?! HAHA. Anyway, I picked this pattern up for free99 during the free out-of-print pattern sale at my local fabric store (actually, it was on the same day that I got that Butterick knit dress pattern. I love free shit, gah.). I thought the shirt was really sweet, in a kind of over-the-top way.
I tried a new FBA on this pattern, adding 1.5″ to the side front. I still don’t really get princess seams; I can never really figure out exactly where that seam is supposed to hit. But I think this one worked out ok.
The original pattern is cut in a size 4, with the aforementioned 1.5″ of bust room added. I also shaved the front seams down by about 5/8″, the back seams by 3/8″, and the side seams just under the arm by 1/4″. I still think the armscyes are a bit too high, but at least they aren’t stupid droopy like The Dress Who Shall Not Be Named. Oh, and I also lengthened the button placket by about 1/2″ and shortened the collar band by a LOT – it was way too long for the neck opening. I’m not sure if that’s because of a pattern error or because I cut that piece of the bias and it stretched when I was fusing the interfacing to it. Either way, it fits now, so whatev.
I had a devil of a time trying to match the plaid up at the princess seams. I futzed around with that shit for-fucking-ever – I’m the kind of plaid cutter who cuts everything on one layer, one painstaking piece at a time – and the lines STILL didn’t match up. UGH. So I ended up cutting the side front and side back panels on the bias, with the front and back on the straight grain. The neck band and button placket were also cut on the bias, as was the front ruffle. Hence why I am calling this shirt a Clusterfuck – it’s going in all kinds of directions! I’m actually surprised at how well it works, to be honest.
Here is my shame, though – THE SIDE SEAMS DON’T MATCH. ARGH!! I guess I forgot to flip the pieces so they were opposing (instead of mirroring). BLECH. And, of course, I didn’t have enough fabric to recut. Not that I would have anyway; by the time I discovered this little issue, I had already serged everything together. It’s not the worst thing ever, but it still drives me nuts. Oh well, I guess we can’t always have perfectly matched plaids :’(
This shirt ending up costing VERY little to put together. The fabric was part of a big lot I picked up from a fellow blogger, the buttons came from the flea market last week (2 cards for $1!), and even the pattern was free. Not bad!
I topstitched the placket and collar band because I think it makes the shirt look more profesh. Also, I totally love these buttons.
The ruffles are finished with a rolled hem edge (done on my serger), instead of the suggested turning under and stitching.
