Willamette Shirts
This summer’s my favourite pattern and probably the most worn pattern is Willamette Shirt by Hey June Handmade.
If you’ve been following me, you might know that I love Archer Shirt pattern from Grainline Studio for a classic button up shirt.
But since I have sort of a short neck (and I’m always warm), classic shirt collar with a collar stand can feel hot in summer.
For this reason I was looking for notched collar shirt pattern for summer, and I have found just what I was looking for.
First of all, it’s a good looking shirt, don’t you think?
Secondly, it has a notched collar like I was looking for. Another bonus of this notched collar is that the collar is one piece without the collar stand, making it really easy and fast to put together.
On top of that, Willamette has dolman sleeves—no need of setting in sleeves! Lastly, this is a popover shirt. Whaaat? No sewing buttonholes and buttons on. How great is that?
This black and white one is my first version. I used a double gauze from Japan; it’s an adorable bow print.
Willamette features a shirt tail hem; it’s curved quite a bit so that you can tie the hem in the front. It’s a very cute look but I’m more comfortable covering my tummy. And since I wouldn’t be wearing it with front tied, I evened out the curved hem and made it more of a straight hem for the second one (the pink one.)
Now, if you recognized this fabric, you’re a hardcore Aya Buttons follower!
This fabric actually used to be a maxi dress. Since this wasn’t getting much wear, I re-fashioned into a shirt.
I was surprised that I was able to cut out a shirt out of a dress. But since Willamette has short dolman sleeves and notched collar, it doesn’t take a lot of fabric, at least not as much as a regular shirt pattern.
The third one is made from a light weight cotton lawn.
Here you can see the dolman sleeves! I kind of think that dolman sleeves don’t really flatter my figure (just to be clear, there’s nothing wrong with the pattern or the style itself; simply talking about the compatibility with my figure here.)
But I do love how easy they’re to sew and how comfortable they’re to wear.
To me, a shirt is not complete without the back pleats! It’s a little detail that I adore.
So summery and comfortable! I love the construction, especially the collar of Willamette. I might try to do a mash-up of Willamette and Archer to create fall/winter version of notched collar shirt with longer sleeves!
Sep 8, 2019
