Sunday 8 January 2012

14 in One Blow!!!

14 buttonholes and buttons on one shirt - not one of my smarter ideas that one!!! How I fitted 14 buttons down the front of a shirt is beyond me, but apparently it can be done...after completing all 14 I felt I needed to embroider "14 in One Blow" like the old Brother's Grimm tale. So just like in the tale, I sat in my sewing room one evening, stitching away busily, whistling and singing gaily...or if the truth be known, I sat cursing and kicking myself for attempting 14 buttonholes in slippery fabric, followed by sewing on 14 little tiny shiny slippery button...

Back to reality...My second take on Butterick 5365 and this one worked brilliantly. Love it...I whipped up View A, but with View B's pleats. The front facing was omitted and an interfaced placket put in, and I used double the amount of buttons - 2 for each closing. On this shirt I lengthened the sleeves as well (personal preference). 
And as an added bonus....it does up!!!! Now, what more could I want???

Here are a few of the details...
All seams are French seams -
Collar worn open...and you can see the buttons, sewn in two's all the way down the front...also the pleats can be seen
I lengthened the sleeve to sit just about 3cm above my elbow...
Here you can see the pleat detail coming out from under the collar area...
Can be worn under my black jacket...
...under my coral jacket...
...or under my sage jacket...
This is a great basic shirt pattern that can be jazzed up easily, with a bit of imagination. 

Next version is going to be in white with a bit of a twist to the placket and sleeves. And a zipper, might use a zipper instead of buttons...

11 comments:

  1. Well done! You are a Brave Little Tailor!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Looks really good - your construction is immaculate though I definately don't envy having to sew all those buttonholes and buttons on!! Your jackets are really nice too - did you sew them? I love the black one and the coral is such a classic blazer shape.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Well Doobee you have hit the jackpot this time. Great fit and versatile enough to go with three very different jackets, style and colour. Now this is why we sew for ourselves, right? So.....14 buttons/buttonholes and you run screaming for the zips? hahaha.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Beautiful work! Love the versatility of the fabric.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Oh...this is beautiful.. and wow I am impressed with all those buttons..Great job..

    ReplyDelete
  6. Beautiful blouse! I love the print and I especially love it with the black jacket.

    ReplyDelete
  7. That's a very pretty blouse. Nice sewing!

    ReplyDelete
  8. beautiful blouse and impeccable detail- I can imagine your frustration doing those little buttonholes and sewing on the small buttons.

    The fabric is lovely and as you point out goes really well with all your jackets

    ReplyDelete
  9. 14 buttons - yikes! I love a good collared shirt, and looks as though this one will be a regular wardrobe staple as it matches so many things! Hope you get lots of wear out of it :)

    ReplyDelete
  10. A great looking shirt but oh my! 14 buttonholes and even worse 14 buttnos. More than I could bear.

    ReplyDelete
  11. I love this version, it looks very classy. Can't wait to see the next version.

    Cheers Jacqui

    ReplyDelete