Another Shirt No. 1 with buttons aka The Tablecloth Shirt

After I made Shirt No. 1 by Sonya Philip , I jumped straight into making Shirt No. 1 with buttons. I didn't take any time to evaluate how Shirt No. 1 turned out and what I could have done differently.

Shirt No. 1 with buttons is pretty much the same as Shirt No. 1 except with the front cut in two pieces. Everything else is the same. Unfortunately, I had to print out another pattern piece because obviously the front is slightly different. So yes, had to do the dem assembly and taping of pieces of paper again.

I used a piece of fabric which my mother had given me years ago. The fabric was wide enough to accommodate the pattern and I thought it was thin enough so I wouldn't feel hot wearing it. However, the fabric was very tightly woven. It felt more like a tablecloth. Now, I know what you're thinking. If I'm making clothes for myself, why don't I invest in good quality fabric which is suitable for clothing. The thing is I'm still at the stage where I'm never sure if I like anything I make until it is made and I've worn it. So you could say I'm making a muslin. If I like this shirt I will make it again but using a better fabric. Does that make sense to you?

Shirt No. 1 with buttons requires a bit more effort because of the buttons. My sewing machine has an auto function for sewing button holes. All you need to do is place the button on the attachment and the sewing machine decides how wide the buttonhole is. Being a lazy person, I used that function. The sewing machine is not very smart. So the result is a very large buttonhole. It works but if I were to do it again, I would do it manually and make it a lot smaller. Shockingly, I do not have many buttons. I used the ones donated by someone - I forgot her name.

No surprise, I struggled with the neckline again. Two things worked against me. Firstly, the tight weave of the fabric. Secondly, I think the bias binding is too wide. After I started evaluating the shitty neckline, I came to the conclusion that I should use a 12mm bias binding instead of a 18mm bias binding. Also another thing that would have helped in this case was to use the same tablecloth fabric for bias binding. But there wasn't enough.

So I'm not as thrilled with this shirt as Shirt No. 1. Hubs thought I had worn the shirt back to front when he first saw me wearing it. Anyhoos we did a little photoshoot. I don't think I will ever wear this shirt out. It will be my laze around home shirt. I paired the shirt with a very old pair of Dorothy Perkins shorts.

I tried cute. I tried slutty (to my mind). I tried oozy. (I don't know what that is)

Then I thought why not some action shots. Hubs was game so we gave it a try. My iphone isn't exactly good at action shots. The intention was to capture me jumping in the air...

This one - hubs not ready.

This one I already landed on the ground.

Demmit - my feet still on the ground.

Feet still on the ground and this time bra strap showing.

Hubs said I did it! Looked at photo closely and eeks! My big tummy is showing.

Let's try again. Feet starting to hurt.

C'mon man! Feet really hurting now.

Thank goodness hubs finally captured nearly both my feet in the air. I limped home.