Making Multiples: Sewaholic Granville

Pattern: Sewaholic's Granville
Fabric: 2 yds gingham shirting
Cost: free from Bay Area Sewists fabric swap



I think one reason home sewing gets a bad rap for looking novice and, well, "home made" is the fact that we seldom have the chance to make multiples. Sure you can make a muslin, but unless you are perfecting the fit and finish with the exact fabric and notions you intend to use it's hard to really get things right the first time. Designers and big box stores churn out hundreds if not thousands and millions of the same garment and can hone in on the process and design choices in a way that you can't do with one-off items.

So while I would hate to turn my sewing room into a factory, there is something to be said for making up the same pattern multiple times and working out the kinks. And the bonus of sewing for yourself is that it will fit in a way that RTW can't! My latest multiple is Sewaholic's Granville, with this being my third version. It'll probably never be perfect, but I've certainly had the chance to tweak and remake and tweak again, including with this version.


A quick Granville recap: My first iteration fit OK but was a bit snug across the back and the arms were too long. My second version was much improved, with a widened fit across the back shoulders and shortened sleeves. But on this version I still struggled with the details, like getting the sleeve plackets right and pattern matching across center front. So on this version I really focused in on the details. The sleeve placket had been an ongoing struggle for me, but here I had a much better result. I finally got the checks to match across the front, and even remembered how to do the enclosed seams for the top and bottom of the yoke. Hurray!





This shirt was made in a thicker fabric, which I initially thought might be too stiff but actually felt perfect for a traditional button-up. I think it will wear and wash much better this way, and I will definitely be looking for thicker fabric for shirts in the future. Thank you Bay Area Sewists for the fabric swap, where I picked this one up for free!

This time I also switched out the back princess seams for a pleated one-piece back. The princess seams are beautiful for a great fit, but this is a more casual shirt and I wanted the fit and ease to be a bit looser and more comfortable. There is some pooling that I don't get with the princess seams, but it is a much easier shirt to wear with the added pleat.

After stitching everything up, however, I could see a few tweaks I still wanted to make. The hips flared out a tad too much, and while I was inspecting that I was nagged by some excess fabric above the bust as well. Having already made the bigger fitting tweaks in the previous version, I could really focus in on these small changes, so I decided to unpick the side seam, remove the sleeves, and head back to the pattern to make a few more adjustments.

First up was my sloping shoulders. My posture can be really poor, and while I always try to sit up straight I notice that my clothes only fit me really well when I pull my shoulders back and up in a really unnatural way. I have done this for enough blog photos that I think I must now admit that it's not the clothes, it's me! I want to say that I'll improve my posture and then my clothes will fit better, but at this point I just need to succumb to the sloping shoulder adjustment. I pinned a whopping 5/8 inch out of the shoulder seam, and watched in amazement as the fit improved, removing the sagging fabric around the armholes. I then followed the Sewing Workshop instructions for redrawing and recutting the shoulder and armscye to correct the fit. While I was at it, I did a 1/2 inch narrow shoulder adjustment (also on the Sewing Workshop), which eliminated the rest of the excess fabric.

At the hemline, I narrowed the hips to inside the 0 size line which gave a more flattering silhouette. While I still do believe that I am a pear shape (which Sewaholic drafts for), my final size for this pattern was less than 0 at the shoulders, 4 at bust, 6 at waist, and less than 0 at the hips. I think my "peariness" comes in much more at the butt and thighs than my hip bones, which explains these sizes. As you can see, the less than size 0 shoulders also show how small my shoulders really are! Jeebus! I have a feeling I will be making sloping shoulder and narrow shoulder adjustments on many patterns in the future.

These changes helped immensely and the fit now resembles much more closely my favorite RTW shirt. There's no tightness across the back, and the fabric seems to hang comfortably at the front without too much bunching above the bust. The shirt is by no means perfect, but the tweaking and sewing process was much easier on this version and I came much closer (after some resewing) to my ideal shirt. I am loving trying some more "advanced" fitting changes lately, and the learning process has been very enlightening!

11 comments:

  1. this is lovely! I've really struggled with the Granville pattern and had three failed attempts, not getting past the collar stage! Must be something obvious I'm misreading in the instructions. Your version has inspired me to give it another go. *girding my loins*

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    1. Oh no! Have you tried the sewalong? http://sewaholic.net/tag/granville-shirt/
      It definitely took me some fitting to get where I wanted, but I learned a lot along the way!

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  2. What a nice looking Granville! The pattern matching + fit looks spot on. I love the yoke and cuffs on the bias- subtle but so pretty! I need to make more of these too!

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  3. Well done looks like one of those comfy shirts that you will reach for over and over again. Great work.

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  4. The fit looks incredible. Definitely worth another version when you need one! We're shoulder opposites! Certain clothes of mine only seem to look right when I'm actively slumping.

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    1. Haha I think I saw one of your fitting posts on IG and was thinking the same thing! Another reason to love sewing!

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  5. You look great in that color! And great job with all those fitting tweaks - they're not easy!

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  6. It looks awesome. The fit looks so great. I'm currently making multiple shirts from a Mccalls pattern to try and figure out my shoulder fit. I thought my issue was square shoulders but I'm not entirely sure now. I did a hefty forward shoulder adjustment and that seemed to help the most. I'm at a stage now where I feel like the more I fit, the more issues I see!

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    1. Oh man I feel you! I think I'm at that stage with pants again. For this shirt, while this version fits fine, when I transferred the marking back to paper and made up a fourth version, the back came out too tight. *sigh*

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  7. Nice shirt. I also like Granville pattern, I like the original princess seams in the back though.

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    1. Yes, the back princess seams are gorgeous!

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