One of my favourite shirts is wearing out.
It has been darned and otherwise mended multiple times, but the fabric’s just getting too thin. Don’t worry, I’ll be recycling the good bits into patchwork fabric, but I love the colour and its absence will leave a hole in my wardrobe. So the other day I went and bought 3 metres of a pretty batik to make myself a replacement.
The original shirt is turquoise, blue and white in a sort of jumbled paisley pattern, and it’s a traditional short sleeved shirt with a collar. The new fabric is turquoise and a little green and white, also in a paisley pattern. But the similarity ends there, as the new garment is collarless and has a deep V-neck and a handkerchief-point hem. It’s a slight simplification of Butterick B6056, without the peculiar pockets, and shorter sleeves without tabs to hold the rolled-up cuffs.
The Husband has many wonderful talents, but taking a flattering photo is not among them. I try. I ask that he doesn’t press the button at the moment of maximum hugeness of person, roundness of face or doubleness of chin. It makes no difference. I always look at least 5kg heavier than I should. This is where a daughter would come in handy, to prompt sucking in of cheeks and tummy and the correct three-quarter view pose.
I used the best of them, and it didn’t help that a sleek and slender Mouse photobombed all the others. The contrast is, frankly, cruel. However, I’m happy with my new clothe, and it’s cool, light and very comfortable. The fabric is still a little stiff and new, but once I’ve washed it a few times, it’ll soften. Batik’s a little firmer and more tightly woven than the pattern demands, but I think it’ll soften enough to drape nicely in time. I love the colour, and yes, I do have some gorgeous scraps for the next ovarian cancer quilt!
Worth a tiny baby-elephant-type twirl, I’d say 🙂
talltalesfromchiconia 
I think he did very well – it (and you) looks lovely.
I feel your pain – both daughters now in the U.K. and, with husband frequently there too, I’ll have to start resorting to the remote control and tripod again which is a bit of a pain as it all has to be planned and usually becomes too much trouble.
Fortunately I haven’t been making many garments recently, but I have a few in the pipeline, so I’ll have to see what I can do about improving the end result! This is a very, very comfy garment for hot weather, as it falls from the shoulders more or less without touching 🙂
That looks SO comfortable as well as pretty. I often look twice my weight in photos, so I stand behind someone or something if I can! But then I don’t make beautiful clothes I want to show.
It is comfortable, and best of all, doesn’t require fiddling about with buttons, I can just dive into it. It came together very quickly too, so no time to get frustrated and irritated, all done in a day. It isn’t, however, a terribly flattering garment. Never mind!
That looks soon comfy and the style is much more interesting than a traditional shirt. I particularly like the pointy hem. I am missing seeing clothes and yesterday was browsing in a local fabric shop (saved from spending by having only minutes before meeting a friend!) So maybe it is time to start again. As to photos you look both lovely and happy. I think we compare ourselves with professional models who are mostly stick insect thin. You look real!
The pointy hem really makes it, and the neckline is flattering too, deep but not revealing. I do recommend another fabric rummage, you never know what treasures you’ll turn up!
Oooh! You temptress! But I do need to refresh my wardrobe so maybe that can be my excuse.
You look great!
My mum’s favourite colour, turquoise, and my favourite print, paisley. Can’t go wrong with that combo!
I completely agree. I dearly love a bit of paisley, and while I find it hard to decide between green, blue, turquoise and lilac as my favourite colours, turquoise does seem to come out on top an awful lot.
I think it´s a great photo and it´s always nice to see the person behind all the lovely quilts! But I now the feeling. I hate being photographed 🙂
I don’t mind the process, just the end result!
gorgeous fabric, gorgeous pattern, gorgeous tunic and wow . . . gorgeous model too ^^
I think you look great, and see nothing wrong with the husband’s photographer skills. He’s captured a lovely smile, and the tunic really looks lovely & floaty for your climate.
Aww, you’re too kind… And the top is lovely, I’m so glad I made it and want to make another soon.
Lovely blouse…..makes me want to stash dive into my batiks to make a top or two for myself…..not that I’ve actually got the time to sew for myself at the present, maybe by spring tho.
This one is amazingly easy to make. 7 pieces, it goes together perfectly and no fiddly bits. If you can find the time, I say go for it.
Forgot too – thanks for the pattern number….gotta remember that one if I go looking for a new pattern.
There are 4 variants, and it does come up large, so do check the measurements before you decide which one to make.
Thanks for the tip.
Love the color and pattern, as it is one of my favorites as well. You look great in it! I love the length of it too 🙂
The length is good, perfect for camouflaging the backside. I really love the handkerchief hem.
Both you and the top are beautiful
You are very kind, but I fear the best that can be said is ‘pleasant’! But the top is lovely and it makes me happy.
Nope… really beautiful
Looks SO comfy! Although I think the picture is charming, I do understand your photo critique. I am entirely unable to arrange my face or form in a pleasing (or even normal) way when anyone tries to take a picture. The last good picture of me was taken when I was in first grade. Even that one isn’t great.
I just can’t understand why the camera will not reproduce the face I see in the mirror. Instead there is this moon-faced stranger. And the Husband is insufficiently critical to make me smarten up! Nice top, though…
It turned out quite wonderful and cool looking. Perfect for your summer. The color would fill me with energy every time I wore it. I never wear bright colors but they do make you feel so happy. I’ll have to give that a think. 😉 My daughter isn’t much better at taking flattering photos either. It’s my son the photography who would be handy in such moments. 😉
It’s cool and energising, as you say. And the Husband does a decent job, and can’t see what I’m upset about, he can’t see anything wrong with the photo!
Isn’t it wonderful that love is blind. We see with our hearts not our eyes. I’d like to see the whole world that way. 😉
We do… it’s a good way to be.
You look just lovely! And the style and color very becoming! Your smile says it all!
I love a comfy top and a gorgeous colour, and I especially like a garment that comes together without any problems or unpicking!
ME TOO! I hate the unpicking part.
I think the new floaty garment is just lovely and you look fab. Shame on Mouse for photo bombing you. I have recognised that the reason I look the way I do in photos is on account of being a fat old woman! So I take the photos now of everyone else!
Yes, I’m afraid the same is true of me, but I always appreciate a bit of help in minimising the horrible truth!
Wonderful fabric, shirt and and photo… kudos to all your efforts. The exercise of one’s image being captured is unnatural, an exercise invoking a kind of Murphy’s Law… it happens best and worst when the subject is unaware. Posed photos are somewhere in the middle but necessary. I needed a quick passport style photo the other morning to email off for a student card… upon viewing the first effort it was apparent my hair although corralled into a knot of sorts was careless, and I was carefreely braless… Fortunately the photo was to be cropped so I only needed to remedy the first.
I feel it’s just as well for our mental self-image that we’re unaware of the true state of things. I just don’t want to know about my back fat and bingo wings, even if the double chin and big tummy are all too apparent… I’d have shown the top on Rosita, my dress form, but it wouldn’t have suited her bright red complexion.
What a fantastic, flirty little shirt! I would be twirling around all day in that shirt:)! I know what you mean about the 5lb shot. It’s inevitable. Oh well, it means we are blessed and happy. You look so beautiful in your new shirt!!😊❤️❤️
It makes me feel cheerful 🙂
What a great colour for you to wear and it does look comfortable as well!
Regarding pictures, I believe your husband is taller than you? Mine is as well and his photography skills have somewhat improved since I told him to hold the camera lower. If he holds it up to his face he is basically taking a picture from above me and those are generally less flattering than pictures taken from a (much) lower angle.
Good idea! I’ll ask him to take a photo sitting down, and maybe he’ll remove a few kilos and add a few centimetres!
I must say the photo is lovely. You have a great smile and your new top looks nice. Why do we critique ourselves so hard? I absolutely hate having my image taken, LOL. The mirror is bad enough.
I suppose it’s transition from years of looking one way to a future of looking another… It’s not so bad, I guess, and I do look cheerful enough!
Make the new one before the ‘old faithful’ has to be retired…looks like a great pattern. Love the fabric, too.
It is a good pattern. If you need to do a lot of bending over, though, I’d say raise the neckline a bit for modesty’s sake, or wear something underneath. I’d be interested to try the pattern in a light, drapey wool for winter wear over another shirt, too.
OOOh – so maybe a lovely soft hand flannel, too?
I think so, yes, but it needs to be fairly drapey. The batik is a little stiff still, so the hem flares out. It would look prettier if it hangs in fluted curves.
I think you look gorgeous! The colour is perfect, as is the pattern, and comfiness assured. The Fella is hopeless at fashion photography too. He tends to hold down the button, which means there is a burst of photos. I end up with I 44+ photos of me, none of which are any use!
BTW, I spy the rug there, in all it’s multicoloured glory.
Yes, I thought I looked striking against the rug and the BougieNights quilt!
Beautiful!! It should wear nicely ☺️
I think so… the batik is really beautiful, and of course the fabric’s very tightly woven and durable.
I think both the shirt and you are beautiful – thanks for sharing.
You are much too kind! It’s a very nice shirt, and I’ll be making it again in a different fabric.
pah!
And I’ve caught up with all the posts now – hope your vision is back, and the discomfort greatly reduced. Hugs.
Vision still a bit blurry, especially after I’ve chucked the antibiotic ointment in my eye, but the discomfort is greatly reduced. Hopefully I’ll be able to see to sew in the next few days.
Love the hemline, it looks cool, comfy and pretty! I know what you mean about OH’s taking photos, I breathe a sigh of relief when my daughters home to take photos!
Mostly, I’d prefer to photograph garments on the dress form for that very reason, but this one didn’t perform at all when I did. It needed a human twirl!
The top looks so comfy and yet chic! (I find it very hard to find both qualities in one garment.)
I never like myself in photos either, then when 10 years go by and I see the photo again, I think, “I looked GREAT then! Why didn’t I enjoy it?”
I have never liked myself in photos ever, but as I get older I find I mind less when I see my tubby body and double chin, etc. I don’t come from tall, slender stock, so why I should expect to be tall and slender is a mystery only the fashion mags can answer!