Butterick B4685, Again

This time around I went for view D, with the shortest of sleeves, using the least amount of fabric, since I had only one yard of 50” wide.  A great stripy remnant I picked up from a great fabric store for exactly $1.  

After my last experience with sewing view A of this pattern, I was skeptical at the best of moments, about giving it another go.  However, the elastic around the abdomen made all the difference in the world.  Speaking of elastic, I used 3 different kinds to make this top: 1/8” for the sleeves, 1/4” for the neckline, and 1/2" for the midsection.  That pretty much cleaned up my stash, guess I’ll have to go shopping at a fabric store for more, oh darn!

Things I changed about this pattern:

I lengthened the front and back pieces by 3-4 inches, and skipped the lace down the front (I figured the stripes had enough going on), but instead added 3 buttons to round things out.   I also took about a half inch off at the cut on the fold side to remove a bit of the excess that was present in my experience with view A.  I didn’t like where it was marked to put the elastic and casing on the inside of the shirt, it seemed far too high, and with my fear of extra shrinking in the fabric, I lowered it and placed it where it felt right.

Conclusion:

Overall, I think it turned out well enough.  A nice break from all of the solid summer shirts I’ve accumulated.  It’s certainly an easy patter, as advertised.  Though I’m no good at hemming curves like those on the bottom on the sides.  

Butterick B4685

I had been watching for Butterick patterns to go on sale for a while, after falling completely into a state of longing for this pattern--B4685.  If you have seen the picture of view A, and can understand that this is exactly what I was looking for...perhaps you too will feel my grave disappointment when you see how this project turned out.

I made view A, cut a size 10, with some blotchy green cotton fabric I received for my birthday (thanks Mom, I love green).  This was to be a test, because the plan was to make it out of my most coveted favorite fabric in my stash...glad I did this, so very glad.

It was a mess.  A tent, is more like it.  Before the final touches I added, my husband said I could fit the cats in there too.  Sheesh.  Sure, tucking it in would help to some small degree, but that's not how I planned to wear this shirt.  It's a trick.  The pattern will not give you a shirt that looks that good.

OK, now that I've finished my venting...

The shirt itself is easy to sew, as advertised, and would have been a quick ordeal, if I had been satisfied with the end result.  So, it does have that going for it.  Also, they managed to fit all of the instructions on one page, even with the separation of views to sew.  Nice!  This would be a great pattern for a quick sew or a beginner.

In my version, I left out the lace, and simply made the casing for the elastic out of the shirt itself.  I found that the piece for measuring elastic around the neck was wildly long and opted just to hang a piece around me and cut it about there, which I adjusted tighter after inserting anyway.

Back

Front

Other changes I made:

• I added 2 1/2 inches to the length of the pieces when cutting.
• Added darts to the front to mimic a princess seam (I'm pretty sure that's what I mean?!).  
• Added darts to the outside back to take in the huge amount of fabric back there.  
• Then added elastic encased in fabric and attached this to the back outside darts to pull it in even further. 

Dart adjustment on back

Extra elastic adjustment on back

Not sure if you can see the front darts...but they are there!

I still have plenty of room and it's easy to take on and off.  I just can't believe how big this turned out!

And yet, I am planning to give this pattern one more try, I have a remnant ($1) that I'd like to make view D out of, since I don't have much else I can do with just one yard of 45" wide.  We'll see how that one goes...
my confidence is waning.