Summer Tops, Week II, Day I

I've got three more tops to show you this week! Maybe more. Maybe.

Sew Mama Sew featured a really cool pleated collar tutorial from Flour a few weeks ago that I really wanted to try. I loved the plaid shirt she had made so when I found some yellow picnic plaid (which you'll see tomorrow) at a fabric store in my hometown whilst visiting for Father's Day I snapped it up. After a few botches/redos on other stuff I've made, I decided that it would probably be a good idea to make a "muslin" first rather than risking my pricey designer fabric. Only I really just can't deal with sewing a shirt just to toss it when I'm done, so I used this red flowered fabric I had sitting in the stash from JoAnn's for the last year. I like that it has a Jane Austen feel to it.

Close up on the vintage-looking red rose buttons. Don't look too carefully at those buttonholes.

I love that the collar looks good open, up, or down. It's a little dressier up than down. This was also my first attempt at a placket, which is surprisingly easy, although it took me a long time to figure out without a good tutorial out there. Does anyone know of one?

The pattern I used was KwikSew 3222, but a word about my pattern sewing: I don't actually use much of a pattern, just the overall shape. For instance, I widened the hips, added an empire waist (it came out too baggy at first, the empire waist is my go-to fix for this), threw out the entire mandarin collar, added a placket (the original has an invisible placket...not my taste), added buttons and buttonholes, and made the hem two inches shorter than the long view. I can't exactly remember the last time I actually followed a pattern without modification.

Not bad for a first run, eh? Tomorrow you'll see the yellow version!!