Mire’s first Classic Shirt didn’t fit exactly the way she wanted. So she figured out why, fixed the problem, and made three new shirts that fit perfectly. She’s here to talk about her process.
A couple years ago I made the Classic Shirt. I do like the shirt, but I don’t wear it very often because it feels a little bit big for me. It is also a little bit long through the bodice. So I decided it was time to sew a new one.
Choosing my size
First, I took my measurements to find the size for the pattern. My measurements are high bust 33”, full bust 34 1/2”, waist 27” and hips 37”. My high bust measurement put me at a size 2, so that is what I decided to sew size 2. (My old shirt is a size 4.)
Pattern adjustments
Looking at the old shirt, I realized that I needed a square shoulder adjustment, because I had diagonal drag lines starting from the corner of the shoulder towards the second button. I also needed a round back adjustment.
I did the square shoulder adjustment first, and then the round back adjustment. I added length at the center back, tapering to nothing at the side seams both for the yoke pattern and the back pattern. Here is how my yoke and back pattern pieces looked after the adjustments.
I shortened the length of the bodice by 2″. I overlapped the front and back bodice pieces by that amount at the shorten line at the waist. I also shortened the sleeves by 1″. After I had sewn the side seams, I decided to take them in by about 1/2″. Here is the finished shirt:
After sewing up the first shirt, I decided to make a second one. This time, I used Liesl’s free popover placket pattern and Liberty lawn to make a summery shirt. I made the same adjustments that I made in my first version except I didn’t take the side seams in.
As the Classic Shirt and the Recital Shirt have the same yoke pattern and the same sleeve pattern, I decided to sew the Recital Shirt as well. Since I had already adjusted the Classic Shirt pattern, I only had to adjust the back and front pattern pieces of the Recital Shirt, by shortening the length and doing a round back adjustment. I was able to use my adjusted yoke and sleeve pattern pieces from my Classic Shirts.
I am pleased with my new shirts and the fit is much better than the old shirt. Next time, I will rotate the sleeves a little bit forward to get even better fit.