Christmas FO: Mint Sequin Shirt

One of the final gifts I made this year was this shirt for my mom. I could never decide what to make for her, so I hemmed and hawed for a while before realizing I should not reinvent the wheel. I've made my mom the Plantain Tee before and she wears it quite often and says it's super comfortable, so I presented her with making another one. I pulled out several pieces of stash fabric for her to choose from (we were just over 1 week from Christmas at this point, lol, so stash was a necessity) and she chose this lovely combo I plan to make up for myself exactly the same (luckily there should be just enough fabric to squeak out another - muahaha!). 

So this is the Plantain by Deer + Doe, which I've made more times than I can name off hand. They recently released an update to the pattern, which included larger sizing and a few other tweaks, but this is the original pattern with my own alterations already added in - I use this pattern as a nice basic block to make other shirts fit better all the time since I've got it right where I like it. Technically this is the Plantain shirt with the Renfrew neckline since the original is just a touch too low and wide for my taste. My mom said the one thing she would like different is to drop the arm scye just a touch as her first version can feel a bit tight there throughout the day - so easy. I just folded the corner down at the arm pit area when cutting. I also had to make a few changes due to the fabric. This front fabric is a rayon jersey that is covered with sequins, making it not as stretchy as it would otherwise be, so I added 5/8" to each side seam before cutting on the front and back pieces. This simple change made all the difference and it fits great now if I do say so myself :)

 Since it really wouldn't be comfortable to cover your entire body in sequins all day long, I used the sequin fabric only on the front piece (thus having more to make myself one) and I cut the back, sleeves, and neck band from a cream colored cotton interlock (a very lucky find at a thrift store). Now that my mom has worn this a few times, I've learned that I should've done something to the sleeve or the side seam below the arm to protect from the sequins. She says it's not a big thing, and it would happen with an sequin shirt, but throughout the day your arms can get a bit rubbed from the sequins - totally understandable and I can't believe I didn't think of that before because I have a few rtw shirts that do the same thing. When I made this for myself I will either make the sleeves longer (which will cause the seam line on the sleeve to pill quite a lot :/) or maybe piece a strip of the cream colored fabric onto the side of the bodice under the arm scye, angling out to nothing at the hem. I'll have to play with it, but I'll definitely do something along those lines. My moms sleeve has pilled from the friction already, but sadly it's kind of unavoidable.

I really love this interlock fabric. This stuff was a major score and I got several colors at the time just thinking it would be fine for muslins, but I've used this stuff a ton and wear it all the time. I'll be so sad when it's gone, lol. I love it because it's beefy enough to hide lumps and bumps as well as not being sheer at all, but it's also drapey enough to look nice in a design like this one. Also it's comfy and washes great. It's basically magical fabric. 

And here's a closer look at that lovely sequin fabric :) I snagged the last bit of this at The Sewing Studio sale a few years ago - it was a garment factory remnant and the entire thing is covered in very cool sequins. The sequins seem like normal circles at first glance, but they are actually a strip of 4 circles all together in a bar shape. They are stacked on top of one another to make the floral design and then stitched down with clear thread. Even the cream colored areas are sequins - so cool. I was a bit concerned about sewing through this stuff at first, but my fears quickly subsided. It's funny - I always read blogs about how people have to pick all the sequins out of the seam allowance before sewing them, yet the two times I've sewn with sequin fabric it was absolutely fine and I had to do no such thing. Maybe it's because mine were knit fabrics? I don't know, but these lay perfectly fine at the side seams and have given no trouble on the insides either. I even hemmed it as normal with woolly nylon in the bobbin and a twin needle. No special equipment or techniques needed - yay!

And since we were taking pictures, we had to add a few fun shots, lol. Can you tell we're related? Wait, how about in the next photo?

Yep, I definitely came from her, lol. These pictures also show how nicely this drapes away from the body below the bust - definitely our family favorite fit.

And she had to do the blogger pose, lol. This shirt is another fav and Kelly has already asked me for one.  I'm just glad I was able to make another special piece for my awesome mama. Isn't she cute? I hope she gets to wear it for a good long time. Also you will probably be seeing another iteration of this shirt sometime in the future when I make it for myself :)

Summary:
Fabric: front piece from cream rayon spandex knit with floral mint sequins all over, 1 yard cream cotton interlock (thrifted)
Pattern: Deer + Doe Plantain with Sewaholic Renfrew neckline
Notions: knit stay tape, thread
Time: 3 hours