Pin-dot Shirt: McCall's M7544
I bought this fabric while ago. It's a light-weight cotton lawn with tiny polka dots on white. I wanted to make a shirt with it and had been looking for a pattern. I wanted to make a shirt that is:
1) with a cute collar
2) with yokes (I wanted to add a piping)
3) has pin-tucks.
I was having a hard time finding a pattern that had all the details I wanted. And then, I found this in my pattern stash! It's McCall's M7544.
M7544 is a top with no front opening, but I thought I could re-draft a bit and add button bands!
I used View A and the major changes I made to it are:
Omitted the back opening and cut out he back yoke and bodice on fold
Added button bands to the front
Adjusted the positioning of pin-tucks (because of the button bands)
Added a collar
Lengthened the bodice
One minor change is that initially I wanted to make long sleeves with gathered cuffs, so I re-drafted them accordingly. However, when trying on, I realized the fabric was more sheer than I expected. It was very summery, so I cut the sleeves shorter and added the folded details to them. The sleeves are a bit wider (looser) than the original pattern.
I referred to this Japanese sewing book on how to draft a collar.
This is such a good reference book! It comes with a basic bodice and sleeve pattern, and it shows you how to modify it to be any style of the bodice you like. It also shows you how to draft many different styles of collars and sleeves!
I wanted a flat collar this time, with a 1 cm collar stand on the back. I was amazed at how easy it was to draft it when I followed this book and how well it turned out!
I love the black piping and the buttons. I made it pretty loose, so this is going to be so comfortable on a hot day.
When I bought M7544, I never thought I would use it as a shirt pattern. It looks a lot different from the original design but I really like it! I'm glad I bought this pattern.
Jun 3, 2018
