Marfy 1895 - Shirt Love Continues

For the interesting stripes that need to be seen and heard, you can't go wrong with a Marfy shirt pattern.

I got this fabric from Farmhouse fabric online, and I am in love with those colors and the texture. The fun thing about this fabric is that it doesn't mirror, the pattern goes in one direction then it repeats itself. This made the pattern layout complicated. For the center front I matched it up to the navy and white stripe, I will let you know how that works out. On the upside, who will know if I am wrong?

One thing that I completely gave up on is the back. I could not get all those stripes organized into those 5 sections without it looking like a bar code on acid.

One thing that you will notice here is the subtle contouring and organic shaping of the seam lines. This is part of what makes these patterns so remarkable. They didn't just take a solid back and slash and spread it, the contour lines resemble a pattern that was draped and shaped by hand.

Their collar pattern are interesting as well. They include separate patterns for the inside and the outside of both the collar and the band that allow for the turn of the cloth by 3/8". Other than that they really don't have much curve to shape to the shirt. The collar band and the bottom edge of the collar are both really straight! I will see how I like it, then I may recut it.

The Upside of Sewing: Stash of Dreams

I love fabric shopping! It is better than going out and buying clothes because you get that shoppers high from the fabric, the pattern and even the buttons.

I just love good fabric, the softness, the texture and the pretty colors.

This section starts with a blue and brown check which I love but goes with nothing else.

Aqua and gray stripe cotton from EOS (less than 1 1/2yd)

Pink, blue and white fairly heavy with cross grain stretch.

Wide stripe yellow and blue, summer weight w/slight jacquard.

Pink and gray stripe that I have laid out for a shirt already (one of those Marfy's, 1895)

I am not just showing off, I am putting pictures in a place where I can find them so that when I am looking for inspiration, or new fabric, I can just look here and see what I have.

Next Section,

More blue than you can stand!

Still more blue, noticing a trend?

The top is a super sweet twill that I got from Farmhouse, it won't be stash long.

Second is actually pique like a birdseye.

Last is a silk/cotton blend that I think is 50/50. It is super soft and a touch sheer so I will have to deal with that. Maybe I will put pin tucks in a bib front or a yoke.

I will post more later. I am suprised by the challenge of getting good fabric pictures, my hats off to the professionals!

The Downside of Sewing

Sorry this looks funky, I still have a hard time formatting here...

The downside is the distance between that shirt in your imagination and that shirt on your body:

In my imagination it looked more like the Tory Burch Stevie shirt http://www.toryburch.com/toryburch/browse/productDetail.jsp?icProduct=31091127&icSort=&icCategory=104#

In defense of the shirt, I have used this pattern before, and it was almost this unflattering at this point. But, I get so many compliments on its sort sleeved summer version:

I will get the long, cuffed sleeves on, then work on the neckline. This fabric is so unbelievably comfortable that I just might have to finish this, then see what I can do to make it flattering.

I think that I need to take it up at the shoulders so it isn't sagging in front. I will start there, then see what you think again.