Blaire Top

My first Blaire Top

This is the Blaire Top, a Style Arc pattern. The fabric is a cotton Ikat purchased three summers ago from Ginny's Fine Fabrics in Rochester, MN.  Since the style of the shirt was boxy and not form-fitting, I cut a size 10 and hoped that it would be loose enough.

Inspired by the sample, I cut the stripes going one way at the top and perpendicular on the bottom

The button placket and collar pieces got iron-on interfacing

The directions for putting this shirt together would have been frustrating for me if this was the first shirt with a collar and buttons I had put together. The diagrams for the collar were helpful though and I like the suggestion for top-stitching.

Collar with top-stitching

The sleeve cuffs on this shirt took me a fair amount of time to put together, but I really like how they turned out.

Finished sleeve cuff

Following a suggestion I read on anther blog somewhere, I hemmed both the skirt and overlay before attaching them to the top of the shirt. I serged the bottom and then folded it under 3/8". This fabric handled the tighter curves well, but I could see where another fabric may bunch up or stretch in those curved areas.

Hem serged and turned under

Over lay and skirt with hem

This fabric frayed easily and I ended up finishing almost all of the seams with the serger.

Frayed edges before it gets sewn onto the bodice 

Button plackets sewn on before the collar

The first time I sewed the collar on it fit beautifully, but I mistakenly put it on the inside of the shirt.  After taking that out and making a second attempt, the collar finished well.  Since the seams are only 1/4" here, I was not able to serge them and I do worry about wear/fraying over time.

Perpendicular stripes on the back

I was very nervous about adding buttonholes. I have only done this on a couple shirts before and I am still gaining confidence in this arena. For this shirt I decided I wanted to try a new-to-me buttonholer on my Singer 201. The rest of this shirt was sewn using my Bernina 1230, but I wanted to try something else for the buttonholes. I read the instruction manual that came with the buttonholer and then watched a couple videos online on how to set it up. For the most part, things went smoothly and I liked the sound the buttonholer made as it was working. It's a very satisfying clacking noise. Before attempting any buttonholes on the actual shirt I completed several practice ones and then very carefully marked the placement for the holes on my shirt. The buttons were centered on the placket between the purple threads in the picture below. Each hole was made with three passes of the buttonholer.

Marking for button placement

I chose to put on 6 of the 7 suggested buttons

Buttonholes look fantastic.  I will definitely use the 201 for buttons again. When I tried on the shirt, I noticed that the collar fit too tight if I buttoned it. Since I would never choose to wear it buttoned up that far anyway, I opted not to add the button at the top.

There is no button at the collar

Headed out to the garden for some finished project pictures.

 I am pleased with my fabric choice for this shirt. Both the color/pattern and the weight of the fabric worked well for a summer top.

Shirt hangs well, could do with a little pressing though

Keep an upright posture so that belly doesn't show

When I make this shirt again, I will add 1 1/2 - 2 inches to the length. I know it is not designed to hang low, but I do not need to be showing skin every time I lean over or turn sideways. For pictures, I had to make sure the top of my jeans at least met the bottom of the shirt.

The sleeve cuffs and side underlay are such fun details

I had fun putting this top together and if I had a suitable fabric for the dress version I'd start in on that now. There's nothing, in particular, calling out from my stash to be made into a dress now though so I'll move on to the next project in the queue.