FO: Deep Teal Boogie Retro Shirt

So you've seen my crazy skirt, now you get to see the shirt I made so that the skirt would work in my wardrobe :) I rarely make "outfits", mostly because I just make whatever I want to keep it fun and that much planning feels more like I'm forcing myself to make certain things (ridiculous, I know, but there it is). This shirt, though, I actually wanted to make. Months ago I decided I wanted to finally make up this skirt, but I wouldn't let myself until I figured out a top to wear with it. So I pulled out every knit fabric I thought might go with it and compared them to the skirt fabric. At first I thought the red I used on my first Boogie Retro Shirt would work, but once you lay those two fabrics together it's glaringly obvious the reds are not the same. The top fabric was much more orangey red while this is a more blue red. I tried light blue, black, and mango orange, but when I pulled out this dark teal fabric I couldn't believe the result: it is the exact color in the middle of the blue leaves! The decision was made and these fabrics started to live together until I got up the nerve to sew them. Now they are a real duo and I love the resulting outfit :)

This is (yet another) Boogie Retro Shirt by Cecelia Theresa Designs, and definitely the best fit I've achieved so far :) Taking all the things I learned from my first two tries at this pattern, I has a list of changes to do this time:

• split difference at sides of neck area (now about 1/2" wider than original pattern)
• cut entire front on fold, negating the bust curve 
• scoop out front under arm of bodice piece 1/2"
• add 1" to length
• remove 1" from each neck band
• lengthen the bust gathers by 1.5"

All my changes worked out really well :) My only gripe now is that I still have some pooling at the arm pits on the sides of my bodice in spite of doing the same alteration as my Crazy Daisy top (which fixed the issue completely on that version so I thought I was good). This fabric is actually the exact same as the red I used for my first try at this shirt, where I also had this problem, so I'm just chalking it up to a quirk of this fabric. It's not keeping me up at night. Everything else turned out really great. You can also see from this side view that the shorter bands totally solved my gaping issue :)

A little wrinkly, but overall I love the relaxed fit of the back. I decided to try sewing the sleeves in differently too - I basically didn't "gather" the sleeve tops, I just kept splitting the difference and pinned the heck out of this. Part of this was from laziness since I had already pinned the sleeves to the body before I realized I forgot the gathering stitches and I didn't want to take it all apart. I wanted to see if doing it this way would help avoid puckers. Spoiler: it didn't, lol. I don't have any glaring puckers or anything, but it wasn't at all easier than the other way. At least I got it out of my system, I guess.

I'm still on the fence about adding to the gathered area on the bust. In person I kept thinking it looked like the gathered area was too high on my red version, despite people telling me that in photos it looked fine. Maybe it's just my brain revolting against the changes I made that made this different from the example, I don't know. I wanted the gathered area to end lower in my bust, so I just started the clear elastic lower there. It is definitely longer now, but now I can't decide if it's too long and looks weird, lol. Goldilocks syndrome, I swear. Happily the 1/2" I added to the sides of the neckline worked perfectly :) No more garments showing, but no more dorky weird scoop neck. Yay!

All in all I'm very happy with this top :) Not only does it go well with Tigeroga skirt, it also goes with my black or purple Hollyburn, among other skirts in my wardrobe. I love a versatile but cute top.

And here is my completed outfit how I prefer to wear it ;) I'm so happy with how this little venture matches. Incidentally I discovered while taking photos of my last 4 makes (all in one session) that they all work as a mini capsule wardrobe, giving me 4 outfits just with these pieces, not to mention what I could add to that number being one of the items is a black skirt. I guess that's the way things go with solids, huh? lol Maybe I'm maturing in my sewing choices. At least it got me some cute outfits.

Summary:
Fabric: 1 yard of deep teal cotton interlock - $1.00 (thrifted)
Pattern: Boogie Retro Shirt by Cecelia Teresa Designs
Notions: clear elastic - $0.15, teal thread - $0.50, woolly nylon thread - $0.50
Time: 2.5 hours
Total Cost: $2.15

FO: Crazy Daisy Shirt

After my not quite successful first try at the Boogie Retro Shirt (seen here), I was curious to try a few things to improve the pattern for me. I chatted with Andrea of The New Vintage Wardrobe on the Curvy Sewing Collective's Facebook wall about her successful shirts. She said that she never had luck with the gathered bodice, and also didn't love the placement of the pleats in the pattern. Instead she would make up the whole shirt, then pleat them as she liked and sew them down. I decided to give this method a try myself, plus a few other minor changes. The result is some good, some not quite, but it's another wearable item :)

Since this was another experiment, I wanted to use a fabric I wouldn't mind being without. A few years ago a friend of mine offered up a bag full of "ugly knit fabric". She was clearing things out, and these pieces had been given to her long before and she knew she would never use them, but thought I could use them for muslins. She was so right :) But proving ever that one woman's "ugly fabric" is another woman's "potentially wearable", I've always kind of liked this particular print, lol. I just have a thing for daisies. The knit itself is cotton interlock, and the daisies are a thick ink style printing on top. The daisies are slightly rough feeling, especially in contrast to how soft the fabric is itself. So it's not the highest quality, but it was perfect to use for a top I didn't know would be wearable or not. So thanks, Holly, for hating this fabric, lol. 

This time around I not only did the suggested "add pleats at the end", I also:

• removed 1/2" scoop from bodice at front arm scye (to fix the pooling of fabric at my arm pit)
• added 1" to the sides of the neckline (to fix the exposed garments issue)
• added 1/2" out at the hip in a curve
• shortened each neckband by 1"
• started pleats lower down on bust (as before they felt too high)

I'm happy to say that the changes mostly worked, but some worked a bit too well, lol. Namely the neckline now has so much added at the side that it just looks like a scoop neck that is pulled down to a slight v. I was pretty bummed to realize this when I finished this top. It's still wearable, but this plus the little girl-ish print makes me feel a bit dorky, truth be told. I do like the bodice pleats in theory, but I don't like my application. I kept wondering if there was too much "cupping" going on under my boobs as I was pleating, but with how I wanted things to sit at the neckline it was what I needed to do. I realize now that I needed to almost have a bit more fabric to accomplish this in the way I was trying. My pleats pulled too much from the bottom of the shirt, making the front shorter than intended while also pulling fabric up between my boobs (creating the cupped effect). It was too late to do anything about it on this make, but I will note that next time. I have another love/hate with where the pleats sit. I do like where the pleats sit visually - it just looks "right" to have them centered between the boobs instead of slightly above them. I don't love that there is a good 1.5" - 2" of fabric above the pleats though. Due to my religious garments, I couldn't dip the neckline lower, but my brain knows that this style is supposed to dip lower so I keep thinking it doesn't look right. It's not bad - I think I wouldn't mind as much had the sides not been quite so wide. It definitely makes my boobs look a bit bigger, lol, so there's that.

You can see in the side photo that the added fabric at the hip is kid of pooling. I actually have slight wings of fabric sitting there, which is surprising. I think the curve I added was just more drastic then my body could fill right there, so I will be scooping that bit out next time. You can also see how the front is a bit shorter in the photo. This is a common problem for me that I always forget to adjust for, but the pleating exacerbated the issue here. Note to self: add more length to the front next time! I usually don't notice until the top is finished and I look at the side view photos. Oh well.

Things look good in the back. On my first version I was feeling a little gaping at the back neckline, which is why I decided to shorten the neckband this time. This alteration actually worked beautifully and the neck on this version feels much more secure. I also like the fit through the back on this one, and I was able to ease the gathers much nicer at the sleeve cap so there are no puckers this time :)

So now I have yet another Boogie Retro Shirt that is just not quite right, but it's a bit closer :) I am determined, folks. I will crack this pattern and make it work for me. Next time around I will remove a little at the neckline and maybe try to eliminate the center front seam (I'm never a fan of front seams on me for some reason, but I did it because of the design here). So expect to see more of this pattern soon. In the meantime at least I have a cute and extremely springy daisy top :)

Summary:
Fabric: 1 yard daisy printed cotton interlock - free
Pattern: Boogie Retro Shirt by Cecelia Theresa Designs
Notions: clear elastic - $0.10, white thread - $0.50, woolly nylon thread - $0.25
Time: 2.5 hours
Total Cost: $0.85

FO: Red Boogie Retro Shirt

This is the shirt that broke me out of a bit of a sewing rut. I was cranking things out pretty well at the beginning of the year, then I took a break, then I had the epic medieval costume to make which caused me to take another break... You know the cycle, I'm sure. This shirt, though, was just cute enough yet easy enough to make me buckle down and sew something again after several weeks. Here are the deets:

I first learned about the Boogie Retro Shirt on the Curvy Sewing Collective's Facebook wall. Scrolling through one day I saw the super cute version made by Andrea of The New Vintage Wardrobe (She hasn't updated her blog in a long time but she's quite active on Facebook and Instagram). I asked her what pattern she used, which lead me to the pattern, which I put down on my list to get in the future. When We Sew Retro had a sale earlier this year, I decided to jump on this pattern and officially make it up.

The Boogie Retro Shirt is a pdf only pattern designed by German sewist Cecelia Theresa. It's a basic tee with a 50s style squared out sweet heart neckline, your choice of gathers or pleats at the bust, and your choice of long or short sleeves. For my first go I decided to make up the gathered bust with short sleeves.

Since this was my muslin and I knew I was making some changes to the pattern, I used this red cotton interlock knit that I picked up in a thrift store for $1, therefore I wouldn't be devastated if the top didn't work out. Spoiler alert! The shirt didn't exactly work, and I was still disappointed, lol. Now I need more red fabric. ANYWAY - so what didn't work, you may ask, on this seemingly cute shirt?

The neckline. I had my reservations about whether this would even be a possibility for my because of my religious garments I wear. I've mentioned them before (and they are one of the reasons I like to sew - so that I can get styles I love that are not so low cut that I can't wear them). The sides of the neckline are actually designed to be gathered up a bit and make an almost triangular neckline that is very wide at the sides. I figured I could just not gather as much and it would be fine, but I ended up not being able to gather the sides at all. I just sewed them on straight, but it still wasn't quite enough for my needs. It may be hard to see in the photos, but it's pretty obvious in real life - the neckline is just barely too wide at the corners and show my garments easily.

After noticing the neckline issue (and being bummed) I also noticed the pooling fabric in the arm pit area, which I think is due to the shape of the arm hole itself on me (I need it more scooped out). And I doubt you can see it here, but the bust also is a little loose - like my boobs aren't quite big enough to fill in all that space - which combined with the garment issue and the extra fabric at the arm pits means I could easily flash people if I lean down. Not fun. As I've grown more used to making my own clothes to my own specifications, I am much less inclined to fiddle with clothing throughout the day that is just not quite sitting right, you know? Constant fiddling is a sign of bad fit. Anyway I was so bummed about the fit issues that I didn't even bother to fix the pucker I got at the front of my left sleeve.

See the pucker? It's pretty glaringly obvious, lol. I also know that I didn't sew the front neckband on as intended. While the instructions are pretty good, the original pattern is in German and the instructions are translated to English. I'm not sure if it was lost in the translation or if it was just my brain not working right, but I could not wrap my head around how the band was intended to be sewn (spoiler alert! I figured it out the next time, lol).

In spite of the issues I had with the fit on this version, this pattern had great potential for me if I could work out the tweaks. I think the neckline is very flattering on me and slightly different but still classy. All good things! So while I can't really wear this one without constant worry about showing more than I like, I did go on to immediately make another. This is a great pattern and it's so quick to whip up! I'm really hoping to figure out the fit so I can churn out a bunch :)

Summary:
Fabric: 1 yards tube of red cotton interlock knit - $1 (thrifted)
Pattern: Boogie Retro Shirt by Cecilia Theresa Designs - $4.98
Notions; red thread - $0.50, clear elastic - $0.15
Time: 3 hours
Total Cost: $ 6.63

(P.S. I did wear this out to dinner with my husband and had no major issues with flashing, so I may just deal with it for this fun color, lol. I'll be fixing that pucker though!)