The current project is a baggy shirt, with a front placket, back yoke and pleat, and “Magyar sleeves.” Never heard of Magyar sleeves, but a trip to Wikipedia gave lots of info. The pattern is from StyleArc, and is called The Maggie Shirt. Clicking on the StyleArc link will bring you to the pattern itself.
In addition to making a placket with a slash for the first time (see the front of the shirt), I will be sewing with gauze. I may be nuts to do it but it will be an adventure in and of itself. The placket may need a fusible interfacing for it, as you do with the collar, but I will cover that territory as I move along.
Here is a picture of the gauze. I wonder if it is the “double gauze” I kept reading about as I searched for information on sewing gauze and cutting out patterns with gauze fabric. Suggestions include not ironing the gauze, but washing it on hot to let it shrink, and letting it dry flat or on a line. I put mine in the dryer, but didn’t iron it as it will stretch a lot.
When I laid out the pattern, I flattened the material, not trying to smooth it out too much, but getting rid of any folds and letting the material lie as it wanted. Of course, the pattern has a grainline line in it, but I just eyeballed it because how could I find the grain other than measuring it from the selvedge (which I did the best I could).
You can see how sheer the fabric is as the blue lines of the cutting board show through a single layer, and for this hot weather, it will be a comfortable top to wear – and hopefully relatively modest, as I don’t like my underwear to be too apparent.
The pattern is pretty straightforward, but I am not too sure about the directions and markings. They are not like the ones found in the 4 big pattern companies here in the US. I need to read a bit, as well as rely on my own knowledge of sewing.
The picture above is of the back of the pattern before I cut it out. The pattern was printed on 8×11 paper, and then taped together front and back. Some layers of paper are 3 deep – and a real pain to pin down. I think I will need to rethink the taping process – pulling out layers as I cut to create only one layer thickness of paper. Didn’t think about this until the pinning and cutting of the pieces began! It’s really tough to pin through 3 pieces of 20# bond!
And here are the pieces, ready to be sewn. That begins tomorrow or Sunday. I also plan to finish the edges of each piece before I sew, and probably stay stitch all the curves at a minimum. The long narrow piece is the collar, so I will also fuse it to a lightweight interfacing.
Before any sewing begins, though, I plan to practice sewing and finishing the edges on the gauze to get a sense of how it handles. I may end up hand basting a lot of it, too, because that may prove to be easier than pinning. As well, I need to check out my presser foot pressure (lighter pressure for lighter fabrics) and stitch length – longer or shorter for loose weaves?
Now, time to go stretch as bending over a table is hard on the old lower back . . .
Ink, Yarn & Beer 