Slowly Sewing

To be perfectly honest, for the first time in the 10+ years I've been sewing, I haven't wanted to sew. A year into the pandemic, I blame quarantine. Never before have I had so much unlimited time to sew. It was fun for the first few weeks. It kept me entertained for many months. And now... I've sewn it all. Couple that with nowhere fun to wear your creations and it's just... not that interesting. I'm slowly picking up projects again but also giving myself the space to nap, take dog walks, make waffles, whatever mood strikes. 

BUT I still have a few things photographed that I want to share with you, so you'll see that dribbling out until I get my "sewjo" back. 

Pattern: Victoria Jones's Waimea Ranch Shirt

Fabric: remnant chambray

Cost: gift

First up, my favorite button-up shirt pattern, the Waimea Ranch Shirt. I've written about it before, but it's the perfectly relaxed fit shirt with just the right amount of shaping. Just check out the back, which has those nice little fish-eye darts that nip in the extra fabric right where it's needed. 

And those pleated sleeves.

I got a little obsessed with the demin details on this one. I used red thread to do double lines of topstitching throughout (which I now realize is why I'm out of red thread). I also did flat-felled seams and have to admit that this was probably the first time I've EVER used flat-felled seams on a garment. I normally default to French seams as I find flat-felled seams to be much too finicky. They were a bit finicky but mostly worked out well.   

I did make one alteration to the pattern, which was to convert the pointed front and back of the yoke (more of a Western style) to straight seams. That makes this pattern much more versatile for me. 

I used leftover denim shirting from another project, turning it inside out to get a bit more of a worn/bleached look. 

The shirt has snap closures on the front and cuffs. But I messed up an got the from Amazon and they're already popping off all over. So I'll probably have to replace them at some point which is such a pain. 

I do love a good denim shirt though and hope I get some wear out of this when the weather warms up.