Summer Shirt

Rosy Days Shirt

Remember when I told you that McCalls 5433 was going to be my perfect summer wardrobe? Well, here’s my first summer shirt!

The fabric is a lightweight quilting cotton – a vintage piece by Rose & Hubble. The print is called “Rosy Days”, and it looks a bit like an old-fashioned quilt. Inside the circles are flowers, hearts and posies in pretty little baskets.

Rosy Days Shirt

The buttons are little blue plastic ones with a flower in the centre. I have no idea how old they are or where they came from – I unearthed them from one of my many inherited button tins!

The buttons aren’t functional – the shirt actually fastens with poppers. (This is because the buttonhole functionality on my sewing machine completely refuses to make nice buttonholes.)

The instructions were great, and the shirt went together very nicely. However, unless you’re a fan of hand finishing, I wouldn’t necessarily recommend this pattern to a beginner. There are a lot of small details that make a big difference in the sewing of a shirt, and some of them can be a little bit fiddly.

I’ve really enjoyed making and wearing this shirt though, so it definitely counts as a success!

New summer wardrobe.

As well as taking over the world with tunics, I also want to make a couple of new additions to my summer wardrobe.

This shirt is McCalls 5433, and it’s a Palmer Pletsch design.

I was a bit startled to discover that the instructions ran to seven pages, and was worried that the shirt would turn out to be unnecessarily complicated. As it turns out, the first two pages are a very useful guide to tissue fitting. It also gives the details for several common alterations, such as how to make a full bust adjustment, and how to accommodate a high back or rounded shoulder. I didn’t know that Palmer Pletsch produced a range of sewing books and DVDs, but they look really useful!

I’ll be making the longest shirt, with the longest sleeves. In a lightweight lawn this should hopefully be the perfect summer cover-up.