Readers, I'm postponing the photo shoot for Victorian shirt #2 until next week. I desperately need a haircut which can't happen until the 27th. I know the post is really about the shirt, but looking the way I do, I'll want to crop my head out of every shot. Please bear with me.
In the meantime, there's another shirt to make! McCalls 7590 from 1964.
I'm affectionately calling this the Cocoa Beach shirt. There's so much to love about this pattern. The back pleats extend all the way to the hem where they're buttoned in place. There are also button tabs on the sleeves. I'm intrigued by it's short boxy shape. I've never worn anything like this. Oh, and I'm always a sucker for a pattern with a pipe in the illustration. I'll be making the short sleeved version out of this block print cotton voile. I love the colors. There may even be a block of Tangerine Tango in there!
I regretted not starting with a sloped shoulder adjustment on the Victorian shirt. It just prolonged the fitting of the muslin. This time I'm just jumping in. Let's face it, my shoulders aren't miraculously going to square up! This is my pattern from Peter's MPB shirt sew-along laid on top of the Cocoa Beach pattern. I'm just going to make this adjustment and hope for the best. I think this is called "winging it".
So here we go. Muslin #1. On the positive side, the sloped shoulder adjustment worked perfectly. Yay! On the down side, the shirt is too short at the center front. Clearly my body isn't exactly like the tapered mannequin that this pattern was designed around. My, ah-hem, "protuberance" is causing the shirt to ride up in the front.
This side view shows the problem more clearly. The shirt should appear straight across the bottom edge all the way around.
The back, on the other hand, is looking good and boxy, which I feel is important to the design. My fabric will only reinforce the angularity of the style.
So here is adjusted muslin #2. I dropped the center front down 1.5". Then I drew a curve from the center front up to the side seam. The shirt now appears to be horizontal at the bottom edge, although it really isn't. I'll have to watch the horizontal lines of my fabric while I'm cutting to keep the curve as disguised as possible. I'm satisfied with the fit at this point and I'm anxious to get it cut out.
