Thursday, July 02, 2009

"The Perfect Shirt"


I just finished McCalls 5433, which is a Palmer/Pletsch pattern. This is a classic fit shirt/blouse. It does not have any yokes, but it does have 4 darts in front and two in the back for fitting. I followed the P/P guide sheet for all of the fitting and made plenty of adjustments/alterations.













As you can see here, I needed to add 1.5" in the FBA to get the cf of the pattern meet my cf. After doing the FBA, you re-mark the bust point so you know how to angle the dart. I need to be a little more careful with my tissue fitting. I thought I needed to lower the dart after I did the FBA and did by one inch. After stitching the dart and pin fitting, I realized I needed to raise it back up. I moved the bust point of the dart up and inch and just angled it up. On the pattern, I cut out the dart and moved the whole thing back up where it started.

Now that I think I have all the fit issues taken care of, I want to make it again and see how it turns out. These are the alterations I made:
-FBA
-narrow upper back
-High round back - on this pattern I don't think I needed it, so I will try it without next time
-sway back
-forward shoulder
-narrow shoulder
-widened at the hips

My poor pattern piece is so cut up and taped up. I will probably copy it onto other pattern material now that I think I have all the adjustments on it.

All in all, I'm pretty happy with this blouse. Now I will have to make some pants to go with it!

14 comments:

Gail said...

Thanks for explaining the technique. I might be able to apply it to a BWOF blouse I'm planning.

Linda L said...

I liked the pattern when you posted about your white shirt sew along. I decided to buy it to use to make metallic linen fabric I recently purchased. You are becoming my enabler since I fell in love with your metallic linen fabric you used in a previous blouse. This blouse looks good on you. I really like the FFRP method and most times I get good results.

Elaray said...

There are few things I dislike more than tissue fitting. But, I see the great results you got with your blouse.

gwensews said...

Great job. The shirt turned out beautifully. I ilke the Palmer/Pletsch patterns, and have most of them.

Little Hunting Creek said...

This turned out so nice! And it looks great on you.

Little Hunting Creek said...

This turned out so nice! And it looks great on you.

Summerset said...

Very nice - I think it is perfect for you. Once you trace off the pattern with the corrections then you can do all sorts of creative things with it.

Anonymous said...

Hi- your tips are great for a person who haven't sew in few years like me. The blouses are nice. I need to know if you could put on your blog the full name or word that you abbrev. Thanks.

Wanda

Nancy Winningham said...

FBA + full bust adjustment
BWOF - Burda World of Fashion magazine
FFRP - Fit For Real People
P/P - Palmer Pletsch

Anonymous said...

Great fit and looks as cool as a summer breeze.

Annika said...

I too just made a blouse and had to do an FBA and I placed the bust dart two inches too low...then had to raise the dart back up...Sheesh!

Tee said...

I just bought and watched the FBA dvd from Palmer/Pletsch hosted by Marta Alto. It was excellent. Your blouse fits you perfectly!

Marji said...

The shirt looks great! Very motivating too, to get back into the sewing room and make myself one.

Happy birthday too. When is it? I saw on SG that you're up for a b'day and I believe if the bold is any indication, yours might be today.

Keiler said...

Great fabric choice! I love the way the sheer white shows off the button band, darts, and collar. I have this pattern in my reserves too. I generally don't like sleeveles collared shirts, but the length and shape of this one are very appealing.