Shirt No. 1

Hi guys,

I think you might have noticed I've been making an effort to make clothes for myself. I'm more inclined towards bag making as I find dressmaking slightly more fiddly. Maybe it's because I've been making bags for so many years it's second nature. Dressmaking also requires far more fabric and most of my fabric comes in 1 yard. So if I have to buy more fabric in order to make clothes then it kinda defeats the purpose of sewing which is to use up my fabric. Recently, I dug around in the storeroom and discovered more fabric I could use and so I sewed up a storm.

When it comes to sewing patterns for clothes, I lean towards simple ones. I like to dress in basics and really don't fancy over-designed outfits. I went to Spotlight recently and I tried to look for very basic patterns and although I found a couple in the pattern book, the patterns were out of stock.

So when I saw Sonya Philip's Shirt No. 1, I was delighted because it's a one piece pattern. The only difference between the front and the back is the neckline. Anyhoos I used the pdf version of the pattern and I'm not going to bitch about taping all the pieces of paper together. I'm not...

Oh, did I mention how much I love my serger now? After I managed to change all the thread to grey, I never have to bother about the thread again as I use it on every fabric. I haven't been adventurous about learning all the other stuff the serger is capable of. I only use it to serge raw edges. For now, I'm happy to do just that. Serging makes everything look so professionally made.

Shirt No. 1 does not use facing to finish the raw edges. Instead, bias binding is used. Bias binding wastes a lot of fabric which is very painful... I used some leftover fabric and joined up two pieces of fabric because I hate to sacrifice my fabric for bias binding.

Shirt No. 1 is very easy to sew. I'm not kidding. There's no sleeve to attach and other than the collar, everything else is straight forward. The fabric I used for Shirt No. 1 is leftover fabric from this Ikea curtain blouse I made in 2017. I can still fit into that blouse but since I started my fitness sessions, my upper body has grown slightly and the fit is slightly snug around the chest. The Ikea curtain fabric is not exactly a good fabric to use for clothing. The weave is tight and while sewing around the collar, I felt the fabric fighting me. I didn't do a staystitch around the collar before attaching the bias binding but I don't think it would have helped.

What do you think? Isn't this the simplest blouse you've ever seen? I made it over 2 nights in between doing laundry, cooking dinner and watching Korean drama. I think if you work continuously, you can do it easily in 2 hours. In case you're wondering, I did not make a muslin. I didn't feel it was necessary.

The only issue I struggled with was the collar and other than the tight fabric, I've been wondering if my bias binding were thinner (in width) would it have made a difference? I used a 1.25" wide fabric strip. Maybe a 1" wide bias binding instead?

Hubs took some pics of me in Shirt No. 1. I paired it with a simple black h&m skirt.

I wanted you guys to see the back. Not sure why hubs took the pic in this odd angle.

So, yay or nay? Hubs says yay - he says it's surprisingly flattering.

To be honest, when I first saw Shirt No. 1 cut out on my fabric, I thought I was gonna look like a giant blob for sure. So glad, that didn't happen. I used pattern size S by the way. Still not used to being size S. In Singapore I'm either M or L.

Anyway, just to prove to you I've worn Shirt No. 1 out, I had some pics taken.

Jane wearing Shirt No.1 riding a bike.

Jane wearing Shirt No. 1 waiting for a train.

Jane wearing Shirt No. 1 about to get on a train.

Jane wearing Shirt No. 1 on train.

Will I make another Shirt No. 1? Actually I already did. I'll show you in my next post.