Tuesday, November 13, 2012

Give me Liberty..... Um, well, faux Liberty

Today, readers, we'll be traveling to merry old England and visiting the flagship store of Liberty of London. If I'm ever lucky enough to visit London, this is sure to be on the itinerary. Truly, this is a Mecca for the fabric obsessed. If you follow this blog, chances are that you fall into this category too.


Let's go inside, shall we?



Oh, my! This is what I would call a shopping experience. We're a long way from Kansas, and a long long way from Target. Apparently this installation was created for London Fashion Week. Spectacular. However, all this Tudor splendor comes at price.



I have been wanting a "little flowers" shirt for almost a year now. This is a very basic point collar men's shirt, with questionable matching at the front placket. Nice. It sells for £125 ( around $200 ). Pretty, yes......within my budget? Not on your life! I can't even justify the $80+ that the fabric alone would cost to make this shirt.

But all is not lost.




I was lucky to find this shirting on sale at Denver Fabrics. It's an Italian cotton, 36" wide, very finely woven with crisp printing. I ordered 3.5 yards at a $4.45 per yard. Score!

If I had not taken this picture I would never have noticed the subtle diagonal nature of this print. So much for just randomly cutting it out. I attempted to match the fronts and placket to preserve the diagonal effect. I've since read that the diagonal quality of the print is a hallmark of Liberty. Who knew? Certainly not me.




Here's a close up. These are all colors that work well for me.



Is it Liberty, or an imposter?

This is perhaps the best shirt I've ever made. I'm getting used to working with lighter weight fabrics. I've also given up my resistance to fusible interfacings. This shirt was interfaced with Pro-woven "shirt crisp" from FashionSewingSupply.com. I can't recommend it highly enough! It really gives the feel of a store bought shirt.




The matching isn't perfect, but good enough to preserve the flow of the pattern.



Final tally, not that it's that important...

Fabric $15.60, Buttons $5.25 = an "almost Liberty shirt" for $20.85

Clothes that I really love to wear .... Priceless!

I'm thinking I'll wear this for Thanksgiving this year. Speaking of which, I wish you all a Happy Thanksgiving and joyful sewing!



Posted by at
Labels: , , , ,

15 comments:

  1. Peter LappinNovember 14, 2012 at 6:31 AM

    Gorgeous! And really looks nice with the cardigan.

    ReplyDelete
  2. AnonymousNovember 14, 2012 at 7:04 AM

    That's stunning! The pattern matching is really nice (I would never have thought of it on my own) and gives a quality appearance. The colours work beautifully on you as well.

    ReplyDelete
  3. SusanNovember 14, 2012 at 9:46 AM

    Really nice! Looks great on you!

    ReplyDelete
  4. KarenNovember 14, 2012 at 9:53 AM

    Very nice -- love the color.

    ReplyDelete
  5. puuNovember 14, 2012 at 4:25 PM

    love the faux liberty! incredibly dashing!

    and for real liberty (but not real liberty prices), have you tried ebay? i've scored loads of beautiful fabric at fractions of the price (even after converting pounds to dollars) that way. also shaukat fabrics for about 1/2 off the "official" price.

    ReplyDelete
  6. purpleivyNovember 15, 2012 at 4:33 PM

    What a beautiful 'knock off'! As Peter says (and I read his blog too!) it looks really great with the cardi. I'm sure you'll get lots of wear out of it.

    I managed to be present when mum was clearing her stash recently, she'd got a couple of pieces of Liberty fabric that are now mine!

    ReplyDelete
  7. mrsmoleNovember 24, 2012 at 11:44 AM

    Dashing dashing look! Who needs Liberty when you can whip up shirts like this? I thoroughly enjoy seeing your progress and insight into new techniques and challenges.

    ReplyDelete
  8. AnonymousNovember 28, 2012 at 5:50 PM

    The matching is 100%! Looks beautiful. Forget Liberty. Nice match with your spectacles too.

    ReplyDelete
  9. mrsmoleDecember 29, 2012 at 2:29 PM

    I am adding your blog for nomination for an award...here is a link from my blog to yours: http://fitforaqueen.wordpress.com/2012/12/29/passing-on-an-award/
    I enjoy following your blog and wish you a very successful sewing year of 2013! Love your pattern work and finished garments!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. MainelydadJanuary 2, 2013 at 3:09 PM

      Oh my, thanks SO much. I don't know if I can fulfill all the requirements but I'll give it a whirl. Thanks so much for your kind words.

      Delete
  10. Lisa H.January 6, 2013 at 12:24 AM

    Great looking shirt. It is so nice to see flowers in the drab of winter.

    ReplyDelete
  11. AnonymousJanuary 25, 2013 at 12:00 AM

    Truly lovely! I would also love to go there. Great work!

    ReplyDelete
  12. RennieMarch 4, 2015 at 11:37 PM

    Your fabric is more cheerful, and crazy that it cost so little to make a sharp shirt with unusual print! Works well as menswear. I am near London ought to pay it a visit, if only to gawp :p PS love all the detail and accuracy you put into garment making, high standard

    ReplyDelete
  13. RennieMarch 4, 2015 at 11:38 PM

    Your fabric is more cheerful, and crazy that it cost so little to make a sharp shirt with unusual print! Works well as menswear. I am near London ought to pay it a visit, if only to gawp :p PS love all the detail and accuracy you put into garment making, high standard

    ReplyDelete

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)