Ice Cold

Vogue 1204 Issey Miyake shirt.

In a vague attempt to sew with a plan I purchased some poly satin to match in with a woven I have plans for. The colours of the woven are duck egg blue and taupe. The woven hasn't shifted from the stash box but the satin has at least been made into this shirt. It's shiny on one side and matt and snubby on the other. The grand plan was to make the top from Vogue 1324 Donna Karan (on the right) but the satin has too stiff a hand for the drapes and pleats needed for the top so I had to opt for another design. The skirt will be made in the woven. See, one garment into my SWAP and I've made changes already!


In this particular case I did actually read the Pattern reviews BEFORE I made this, usually I read them after I've made things! The main area to watch out for is the stand up collar. The pattern is rated advanced but I think 'awkward' would be a better description.

The problem is - this little half moon shaped interfaced collar piece has to be sewn into the neck to produce a nice fit while wearing and provide a bit of substance to the folded over un-iterfaced draped collar.

In keeping with most other sewers I made a mess of this. The straight edges are fine but those points were impossible. P'thifty admits to having sewed this and ripped and sewed - so I didn't feel too bad.

Yes it did defeat me but I'm kinda thinking that with age comes just a modicum of sense and knowing when to stop struggling and fighting with something that's just going to make you angrier and angrier. There comes a time when you just have to say enough is enough and went for plan B. So if you are making this and weeping at the state of those collar points - STOP and read on......

1. Mark the seam allowances on the interfaced collar.

2. Press in the allowances: tidying up the points.

3. Slip stich the collar piece into the gap matching up the seam allowances on the shirt body with the edges of the collar and making sure to enclose all raw edges, especially at the points. A few extra stitches here don't do any harm. Press the living daylights out of it.

Sorry but yes, that is blood on the collar - some of my pins are apparently very sharp! The best bit about this collar stand is that it is hidden by the shawl collar that is folded over it.

However, you have to do this impossible sewing trick twice! The second one lies inside against your skin and might be visible when wearing the shirt. So this time I folded the seam allowances as before, placed the folded edges on the seam allowances of the shawl collar and edge stitched in place with the machine. The pattern instructions say to edge stitch after it is sewn in place anyway.

Result is a smooth collar insertion without tears.

I flipped the fabric over for collar and cuffs so the shiny side was used. I also used the shiny side for the covered button at the front - The only visible fastening.

The pin tucks are easy to make, especially on a fabric that presses so well. I liked them so much that I added two more on the back. The pattern comes with one but I thought it looked a bit lost so made some friends for it.













 I've got a miserable cold at the moment so really bad hair, and when your hair is as short as mine that saying something! no make-up and red raw nose. I'm cold and hot at the same time; I've a sore throat but don't cough - just a wierdo type of cold - hence the hat to cover it all up. It's been about 5 years since I've had a cold so I can't complain but I am feeling terrible. I was lucky enough to manage the button holes today and at least it's finished.

The shirt is a little fancier than I imagined - really quite dressy but I think it will work tucked into the skirt - if I ever manage to stick to the plan........