Tag Archives: Pin tuck shirt

McCalls M5976 aka Dang Pin Tuck Shirt

April 17, 2012sewingblack, McCalls M5976, Pin tuck shirtHenrietta

After much stewing and being angry, this shirt finally got finished. Its a mixed bag.

Pros:

Everyone always compliments it.
The pin tucks look nice and allow for a blousy effect.

The shoulders and body of the shirt fit really well and are very comfortable.

Cons:

I made the elastic in the cuffs too small, so its not really very comfortable to wear with the sleeves scrunched up.

I had to hem it twice to get the length right and I’m not sure I love the length yet.
The collar.. . URGH! It is completely not right. Since I had messed with the width of the neck, I didn’t want to just cut the collar stand straight from the pattern. In my infinite wisdom, I thought, “Eh, I’ll just make it using bias tape.” Its super wonky and lays all wrong, and I really really should have just laid the neck out and drafted a new collar stand. I didn’t know how to do that at the time. I learned how to later and haven’t had the patience to rip it out and re do it. But that is exactly what needs done.
The placket: I didn’t sew it very well so part of the raw edge sticks out on the front near the hem. I just zig zagged over it with a short stitch in black thread. I’m sure no one else would ever notice it.

I added a lot of width to the sleeves to make them flowy and blousy, and that turned out alright, but I should have added a good 3-4 inches in length.

Most of everything that I don’t like about it was my fault, stemming from inexperience. I finished this months ago, so thankfully I have moved on and learned from my mistakes.

Pin Tuck Shirt

April 9, 2011clothes, sewingAnnie Tunic, black, blue, Pin tuck shirt, Simplicity 3700Henrietta

The Pin Tuck Shirt, which has had many names, is finally “finished.” First, it was just The Pin Tuck Shirt, then the Dang Pin Tuck Shirt, then The Expletive Pin Tuck Shirt, and later two versions of The Expletive Expletive Ping Tuck Shirt. I even lost it and had growing resentments towards it.

But alas, it is done. Sort of. I hate it. I think I’m going to take 3 or so inches from the hem, add some strange dart/pleats to the collar, and add elastic to the sleeve ends. Hopefully it will be wearable!

See how the collar has some bizarro gaping issues? I don’t know what is causing that.

Underneath it you can see the unfinished Annie Tunic. Its so close to being done, and yet I haven’t finished it. But it has to be finished by this coming weekend, so it’ll get done eventually!

I’m making a shirt with this fabric. Its very soft and flowy and has a great feel to it. Its from Simplicity 3700. I’m just cutting the jumper down to shirt length and adding sleeves.

Me Made March

February 10, 2011clothes, functional sewing, sewingAnnie Tunic, blue, Button Down, cream, flower print, Me Made March, oxford cloth, Pin tuck shirt, yellowHenrietta

I, Amy Jo of http://www.BlueHippoArts.com, sign up as a participant of Me-Made-March ’11. I endeavour to wear at least one handmade garment, refashioned garment, or wearable accessory each day for the duration of March 2011!!

So that means I can wear a scarf or hat (if its part of an all day outfit, and not like, oh, its cold! I should put on a hat!) but not carry a purse or clutch and count it. And of course, any articles of clothing that I’ve made count!

I’m super excited! Zoe over at So, Zo… is hosting it. She’s done a Made by Me May and a Self Stitched September before. (Oh how I love alliterations!)

In order to do this successfully, I’m going to have to make at least a couple more shirts between now and March, and hopefully a pair of pants or a skirt. I’d really like to make a pair of trouser jeans, but I’m not sure how much farther I have to go with altering my Burda pants pattern.

We’ll see!

I’ve got a vintage yellow sheet with flowers on it that I’d like to make into a button down shirt, lovely soft and drapey blue oxford cloth, and this interesting linen looking cream with flowers print that I’m thinking would be good button downs. Then I also have a black gauze that I’ve been wanting to make into a simple tunic for almost 2 years. So if I can get those shirts and a pair of jeans done, I think I’ll be good to go!

Weeeee!!! I can’t wait.

Oh, and a progress update on the Dang Pin Tuck shirt… I have the sleeves but have lost the body of the shirt! Egads! Who does that? I think that perhaps I’m not meant to ever finish the stupid thing. At the rate I’m going, it might be done next fall. Stupid shirt.

Ok, that’s all for now! Go check out Zoe’s blog! She has a really cool style that isn’t much like my own, but that I really admire! (And some awesome info and posts on sustainability!)

Vintage accesories and clothing resentments

January 29, 2011clothes, sewingMcCalls M5976, new camera, Pin tuck shirt, sewing philosophy, vintage sewing maching attachments, vintage singerHenrietta

Well I’ve been taking oodles of photos with the new camera. (Side note, I think it needs a name. I like to name things. My car’s name is Wilbur, and before my cars were Angus and Tommy. I think that perhaps the camera needs a more feminine name.)

Anyways! Lots of pictures, some of which are quite fabulous, and some of which are quite random. I would love to post them, but I’m at work, and they are sadly sitting at home on my computer, all alone and anxious to see the world. Soon my friends.

Haven’t had much time to sew lately, and that bums me out hard core. Too much school work and too much exhaustion. I think it will get better. I worked on the dang pin tuck shirt yesterday afternoon. I had changed the arm & shoulder area a LOT. I took 4 inches off each top of the shoulder. Yikes. So I knew I’d need to probably re do the sleeve. I’m not a sleeve master, and they still scare me a bit. So I’m more than a little nervous about this. I cut out the original sleeve, as drafted, in muslin and hand basted it in the shirt. Without the gathers, it still needs 2 more inches just to have the same circumference as the arm hole. Guh. So I slashed the sleeve in three places adding about 6 inches all together. We will see how that goes. I’m still in the process of sewing the extra inches into the pattern. I really should have just used the fabric glue I bought for my brother’s Christmas present. Why is it that I’m just now thinking about that shortcut?? Let me tell you, I’m developing a serious resentment of this stupid shirt!

I’ve decided that its the kind of shirt I’d probably pay 20 bucks for, or more likely, buy it once it was on clearance. There is no way I’ll be wearing this shirt in two years. Its too trendy and silly. But the thing that I’ve realized about myself is that I should really only make clothes that I cab see myself wearing for a few seasons, otherwise it just really isn’t worth my time. Or maybe there’s some threshold of time commitment that is involved… I don’t know. But I do know that this shirt and I are not getting along.

I’m really not even sure if I’m going to like it at all.

With the lack of creating things posts, I thought I’d leave you with some of my vintage sewing machine accessories. These came with my machine, and I’ve yet to try them out.

This box is full of feet.

There are a bunch more in the top tray of the box, which isn’t pictured. Two of the feet, the walking foot and the narrow hemming foot, were a birthday gift from my husband last year but the rest came with the Singer.

Isn’t it all in great condition? I was pretty surprised by how nicely it all was preserved.

I’m not sure how it works yet. I really need to read the instruction manual that came with it.

I doubt I’ll get to posting pictures tonight because we’re heading north to a concert, but I will try to post some soon!

Blue Hippo Arts

Sewing and Such