Butterick B5261

Its a raglan sleeve blouse with strange cuffs and a convertible collar.  I’m a big fan of raglan, dolman, and kimono sleeves.  They’re easy to fit when you have narrow shoulders and a large bust, IMO.  That’s probably what drew me to this pattern in the first place. I’ve tried to buy it several times when Buttericks go on sale at Jo-Ann, and they never have it.  So I ordered it full price from Connie & paid shipping., which is not something I usually do.

I’m not sure what it is about this shirt, but it looks like something my grandmother would wear. Literally, I’m sitting here looking at a picture of her wearing something very similar. I really think its the convertible collar. I don’t know if I’ve ever seen someone in their twenties or thirties wearing a collar like this. Good news is that is a relatively easy fix on future versions.

I am very proud of my buttons and buttonholes! I realized I’ve never done a garment that needed multiple buttons & holes! I think it turned out pretty well.

I chose the shirttail version of the shirt. I’m NOT happy with how it looks in this shirt. I’m typically a big fan and I find it to be a slimming look. If there is a next time for this shirt, I’ll be adding an inch at the center front and tapering back to where the original hem is. As you can see below, it comes up in the center front, but with a 5/8″ hem allowance, there wasn’t much to do with it.

I do really like the back pleat, and I think the stripes look nice where the raglan sleeves meet the back.

The goofy cuffs… well they’re not your typical button down shirt cuffs. I HATE them. They make it completely impractical to wear in a normal day of my life. The sleeves are long enough to get in the way of doing dishes or cooking, and since they’re just a rectangular tube, you can’t roll them up. There is no stretch to the fabric so you can’t just scrunch up the sleeves either.

All in all, I’m not in love with this shirt.  I wore it one day.  It irritated me most of the day.  I don’t know if I’ll wear it much, but I am proud of the work that went into it. Its made well, and I’m sure it will hold up for a long time. All the interior seams are mock felled, and I love the durability that gives along with the fact that it just lays nicely.  I think I executed it well, and that it’s just not my style.  And really, I don’t think twenty somethings are Connie Crawford’s target demographic anyways.

If only I were working at my dream job, designing my own line of plus size sewing patterns for young people.  There is a tremendous hole in the market.  There are all kinds of super cute young pattern companies, like Colette, By Hand London, Wiksten, Sewaholic, and Tilly and the Buttons, just to name a few. None of which carry plus size patterns.  I get it, its a lot more work.  No blame on them from my little blog! On the flip side, plus size sewists like myself would love to just be able to pull a super cute pattern out of the envelope, cut and go. It often takes just as long for me to grade a pattern as it does to construct the garment.  If a plus size sewist wants the experience of just pulling the pattern out and having the correct sizes at her disposal, our options are few, and much more mature than I care to dress.

I don’t mean any of this to reflect poorly on any of those companies,  I love their work!  I just wish that there was even one company who got it, and made a plus size line.  And I wish that company was me. 🙂 Who knows where the future will take me.   If the last 14 months have proven anything to me, its that this life is wild ride and I have no idea where I’m going next.

I’ll end my rant/day dreaming now. Thanks for stopping by!!