FO: Yellow Stripe Boat Neck

This shirt has been on my list to make since the fall. I was having a yellow moment where I really wanted to add more to my wardrobe - I blame current trends and seeing cute things at Target since it's the only store with clothes I go into anymore, lol. I actually bought a skirt from Target because I liked the "Aztec Gold" color do much. Around that same time I found an amazing pair of mustard yellow Clark's flats on Amazon for $36 - a total steal. So I was getting a few pieces, but I needed more to be able to incorporate (*cough* and justify purchasing *cough*) my awesome shoes. I've sworn off most yellows for so long that I did not have anything in my stash. I find that yellow is a color that has to be just right for your skin tone to not look ill on most people. I can't do butter yellow at all, but lemon and mustard are ok. When I came across this yellow stripe shirt in the Target clearance rack (which is kind a light mustard - maybe "Aztec gold?" lol), I liked the color but it was WAY too big and they only had this one size left. Since the original was a size 4X, I knew it had enough fabric to recut into whatever I wanted :) So I bought it with good intentions, but it sat until after Christmas.

Here's a full outfit shot - look at those shoes! Aren't they awesome? Shoes like that deserve to have a shirt made for them. Wanting to wear these shoes more is what made me immediately grab this project after finishing Christmas gifts. So just after moving back to my house, I sewed this up in one evening. I used my hacked Renfrew pattern with a boat neckline (my favorite) and cut the pieces out of the much larger pieces.

I made sure to stripe match where possible - I'm pretty proud of my matched side seams. CHeck out that action!

I also matched at the armhole notches, but it turns out that they were a bit low to be able to really see the matching :/ Next time I will pick a spot higher up the armhole. They do look nice at the two stripes I was able to match though (seen above).

And the obligatory back view. I should also mention that the only area that I did not redo is the sleeve hem. After cutting the original shirt, I wanted to keep as much length as possible, so I just sewed the sleeves up using the original cover stitched hem. No one will ever know that but me though.

I took a close up picture later so you can see the colors better - the yellow stripe is split up by a white strip and a pale pink stripe. Also I did my preferred method of an enclosed neck band for this shirt. Since the fabric has 4 way stretch, I cut the neckband on the cross grain and I really like my little pop of vertical stripes. No one besides me will see that, but it makes me happy.

I do get a slight bit of wrinkling along the neckband, which I've had on my other versions as well, and only on this project did it occur to me why that happens. The boat neckline should just be a 1 to 1 ration on the neckband. I made this about 4 inches shorter than the neckline opening (which I always do on scoop necks and the like), but it seems to pull the neckline tighter than that area needs, thus the wrinkles. I'm not sure if this is across the board or just from my hollow upper chest, but it's definitely something for me to change on the next version. It's not keeping me from enjoying this version though.

So that's my yellow shirt :) Making this perfectly coincides with The Sewcialists theme of Stripes too, which is nice as I never manage to make things for those group challenges. I've worn this shirt at least once a week since finishing it, so it is a clear winner in my wardrobe. Yay for yellow!

Summary:
Fabric: Size 4X boat neck t-shirt from Target - $4.50
Pattern: Renfrew by Sewaholic Patterns with hacked neckline
Notions: thread - free
Time: 2 hours
Total Cost: $4.50