dotty shirt

Another shirt made with the pattern from the Built By Wendy book. Same pattern as the Liberty shirt. I went a little crazy: long sleeves, pintucks, ruffled collar, lengthened hem.



Since the previous shirt I made from this pattern was a bit loose across the chest (me being a bear of very little bosom), I didn't add any width to accommodate the pintucks. I think this would have worked fine if I hadn't also decided it was necessary to make the back piece narrower as well. Bad logic or fuzzy math, not sure which. But it's a leeeeeetle tight across the shoulders. When you put it on, you can't first put one arm in the shirt, then the other. No, you have to put both arms in, then shimmy the shirt up to your shoulders. I love it. Getting dressed should involve more acrobatics.



I have a new love. Cuffs. They sound difficult but actually aren't. All the raw edges tuck so ingeniously into the body of the cuff. The buttons go sideways. What's not to love? If only I hadn't put the buttons on one of them backwards. Whoopsy. A friend said it could be my trademark, always having both cuffs opening in the same direction. Hmmmmm....

This shirt makes me so happy. I wore it to work today and it made me smile all day long. I've always been fairly indifferent about the clothes I wear. Growing up, clothes seemed to be a reflection not of the person wearing them, but instead of how much money their parents made, or which brand name they had pledged their allegiance to. It always seemed like the clothes were defining the person, and not the other way around.

Now, as I grow older, my sense of self is a little more sure, and not prey to other people's assumptions and expectations. And as I grow as a designer and a crafter, I focus more closely on the textures, patterns, lines, and colors I choose to surround me. So I guess I'm trying to say I love all the little decisions that went into this shirt. I love the soft dotty fabric, the ebayed buttons, the backwards cuff. There's a story behind it, a story I wrote. And I'm proud of that.