I took a break from my embroidering to do a quick-finish project, to give myself the pleasure of completing something. So absorbed was I, that I took no pics in progress.  Instead, here are a bunch of finished pictures.  For the finished modeling, I wore it with the pussycat bow blouse from the same pattern. You may recall that I had contemplated opening up the darts on that shirt?  So... I did, turning the darts into tucks that start just beneath the breasts. 

Remember this pattern in cotton?  Now I'm making it in rayon!  A rayon challis, to be precise.  Since my previous makes were cotton voile, which has a crispness to it, the shirt will look different in rayon challis, which is light and drapey. 

As for the views, I always make View 3, the one with the notched collar.  I think the other two look more dated.  But View 2 might be really pretty in charmeuse....

Challis (say "SHALL-ee") is a soft woven fabric ideal for blouses, dresses, and scarves.  Its name means "soft".  It's a recent invention, dating back only to the 1830's, when it was made of wool/silk.  Nowadays, I see it most often in rayon (often in bright, busy prints), but occasionally in wool.  I have never seen a cotton or polyester challis. 

This pattern from 1988 is for a simple, breezy top.  I have made it twice from cotton voile.  I like to wear it un-tucked and un-belted, because it elongates my short torso.  The cut-on sleeves are loose under the arm, perfect for summer.  The box pleats pulling it in at the waist give it some style.  It takes only a yard and a half of material, and five pieces: front, back, collar, and two facings.

The first make was a test garment, using light-colored floral cotton voile from my stash.  I made it according to the pattern, then made a simple alteration to the pattern for the next time: I tapered the back seam inward to act as another dart.  It was sweet and easy, and I liked it, but the color washed me out.  Eventually, I gave it to the Goodwill Thrift Store. 

I started this shirt last year, then put it away for... reasons.  Now I have time, and it's a lovely sheer cotton that I'll want to wear soon, so I take it out to finish it.  Because of the time gap, there's some discrepancy in my methods; for instance, I started the thing with French seams everywhere, but finished with normal darts, and I was originally recording my time, but didn't at the end.  Oh well! 

The large bow at the blouse's neck, known in French as a lavallière, is also intriguingly known as a pussy bow or pussycat bow.  I don't know the reason for the cat reference, which is only as recent as the last century!  I have always liked them, since I grew up seeing them on Miss Brahms of Are You Being Served. 

Today, I'm gonna try a new format for my project diary... I think it'll be useful for people learning to sew to have a clearer idea of how long something takes and how much it costs, so I'll start including those details as accurately as I can.  I also know that a lot of people stop reading when they see a block of text (not sure why, since I like blocks of text, but the world is diverse!), so I'll try to put vital stats in bullet points to make them easier to read. 

Last time I made this shirt, I cut it in size 14 and found the fit perfect except for the bust darts, which were positioned too wide for my bust.  The busy print of the cotton sateen (left side of picture) conceals the darts (as does the fact that I wear a bib-apron at work!), and the shirt is a new favorite in my wardrobe.  However, I want to make it again, changing a few things to fine-tune the fit.  This time, I'm using the sheer striped fabric on the right. 

For two reasons, I'd like to document a basic, sew from a pattern project.  First, because I haven't shown the whole process here before, and someone might be interested.  Second, I am trying to keep better track of my time as I work. 

Since I've recently started a new job with a dress code requiring sleeves, I shall make myself some long-sleeved shirts! 

The inherited stash strikes again!  In the same boxes where I found the three A-line skirts (light gray, dark gray, and white), I also found this shirt, Simplicity 5339 in size 16, all cut out.  Even the sew-in interfacing was there.  Oddly, some pieces had the tissue pattern still pinned on, but others didn't.  So I hoped I had a complete set of fabric pieces, but certainly didn't have a complete pattern, and there were no directions.  It was a puzzle!