Queen Cordelia: My Latest Princess-Seamed Shirt M6076

My sixth Palmer and Pletsch Princess-Seamed shirt. I'm definitely on a roll with this pattern!

Been wearing Cordy (excuse me - I mean Queen Cordelia) a lot since I finished her a few days back. I lengthened her sleeve from the quarter length I did for Princess Periwinkle and Marigold, into a three-quarters length. Perfect for a warmer weight fabric.

Cordy thinks she's royal because she's made from corduroy (cord-du-roi /cloth of the king), but according to wikipedia, that was something folks used to just say. Apparently corduroy is just as everyday as I am.

Don't tell Cordy, OK?

Fall Colors: Marigold - A Princess-Seamed Shirt with Sleeves (M6076)

M6076 - Doll is  covering up the phone/camera for selfie mirror shot!

I'm so happy I got this marigold yellow princess-seamed shirt done! Wore it twice on a trip to visit with my cousin in San Diego, and another two times since I got back from that visit.

I cut the original shirt out to be sleeveless (like Western Winds, Floribunda Bouquet, and Pinto shirts), but just a touch of fall rain got me interested in moving away from the no-sleeve look. So...

- I had to drop,  then piece the front and back at the bottom of the armscye, to extend

- I managed to cut sleeves out of a miniscule remnent

- I had to piece MORE scrap onto the sleeve, because I didn't gauge  the armscye changes right

- By the way.... I did not have a working sleeve piece for this pattern so I was finagling with the pattern piece the whole time!

And I still love it

It's all about color

I would never recommend doing this! I have cut out another version of this shirt (using a remnant that needed a home) - to fully test the pattern with the sleeve piece I think..... works.

Had I not loved the marigold fabric, I would have tossed this shirt, or just not bothered to work on the whole sleeve deal.

The artistry of piecing and testing... those are the kind of things that keep me....

Enchanted by Sewing

Summer Essential:Foribunda Bouquet - Beginnings ( Sleeveless Princess-Seamed Shirt, M6076)

  I've begun work on Floribunda Bouquet, another sleeveless princess-seamed shirt using M6076                                                                                                              

Been getting a lot of wearing time in with Western Winds and Pinto, so por qué no*?                                                                                 

                                       

 * por qué no? - why not?

Fitting Pinto: (M6076)Sleeveless Princess-Seamed Shirt - Perfect for Summer Temperatures

The word "pinto" in Spanish does indeed refer to a specific kind of bean
It also means "spotted" or "speckled" !

Last fall I first fitted a sleeveless version of M6076. I called my first version of this shirt Western Winds. I've been reaching for my Western Winds shirt repeatedly in these warmer days. It's on the wash line every time I hang up clothes. To prevent fading I machine wash my own-sewn garments but I hang them to dry on plastic hangers on our clothes line . There is really no more time involved, as the hangers can go straight into the closet once dry.

There is no sleeveless version in the pattern, so I worked out where I wanted the armscye to be cut. A french curve ruler really helps with that. I did create a muslin for that original version.

I'm finding that, despite marking up my first-version master pattern tracing and markup of the master pattern, as well as that muslin, I'm still needing to do a lot of basting on Pinto, both with a basting stitch and safety pins. I'm hoping the altered cutting and stitching lines I just made to the last version of the pattern will help me make the next version of this shirt more quickly! I marked all alteration cut and stitch lines in a specific marker color and dated them too. One thing I've learned about altering patterns is to do that. I've also learned that different fabric, in a fitted garment, need slight differences in the amount of seam allowance.

My side and shoulder seams are still basted. Next step is to sew over them with a regular stitch length.

As you can see I also haven't yet added the facing or collar. To make sure the various seams in this fitted shirt hung right I safety pin basted the two front pieces up the center front line for the time being. I can still pull the shirt over my head for fitting.

~ ~ ~

Completed Western Winds - Last Version of this shirt http://meencantacoser.blogspot.com/2015/10/western-winds-terminadofinished.html

Ench By Sew-41: Fit for a Princess – Fitting Princess-Seams

Click on this link in iTunes  to download the 41'st episode of the Enchanted by Sewing Audio Podcast,  recorded in February of 2016. Or listen directly on the web by clicking on this link.



What is a princess-seam? A princess-seam is intended to mirror the shape of a woman’s torso. It’s a long, lengthwise curved seam midway between the side seams and the center of the garment. You might see a princess-seam in a women's nightgown, camisole, swim suit, blouse, shirt, dress, or coat. The lines you’ll typically see in a bustier, or merry widow garment, are a good example of princess-seams.

Princess-seams are sewn into the front and/or back of a shirt. They may start at the low or high hip,  the waist , or wherever the bottom of the garment is. In a fitted cropped top they’ll start at that bottom crop point, in a dress or coat, without separate skirt pieces, they are probably at the hemline. A princess-seam usually moves up to the armscye (armhole) or to the shoulder seam.

Often a princess-seamed dress does not have a separate waistline at all, since it does its shaping without darts. A -Line dresses often have princess-seams.

Well executed princess-seams can add a long sliming look. 

In this episode 

Primero /First  -  Royal Reflection – My own ideas about sewing history and choices I made for my recent princess-seam sewing.

Entonces/Then – Technicos for Princess-Seam fitting – What techniques I’ve been using to fit my princess-seamed shirt pattern

Resources:
* For my princess seam pattern,  I used M6076 0 a Palmer and Pletsch pattern
http://mccallpattern.mccall.com/m6076-products-10887.php?page_id=482


* Coco  Chanel's Sleeves https://cloningcouture.com/2014/08/04/chanel-and-the-sleeve/

* Beyond Fitting - Sewing  Princess-Seams http://www.idlefancy.com/2014/01/sewing-curve-fitting-princess-seams-for.html

Cutting Out Aurora - The Princess-Seamed Test Garment

Dear Susan,

More progress on that princess-seamed shirt muslin (M6076)  ...

You and I talked last week, about the troublesome set in sleeves on my muslin. Too tight across the bicep, funny wrinkles in both front and back. You so kindly looked up an article for me as we talked about how I might redraft the sleeve pattern.

Did I read that article? Oh, after you spend time searching it out, I didn't!!!! Instead I realized that I was just so tired of putting my minimal sewing time into muslin work. I wanted to be able to get on with garment sewing - even if it wasn't believing I had a perfect pattern to use for my beautiful piece of Poppy and Honesty Liberty of London Tanna Lawn.

So I simply tried another sleeve - the one we drafted for our slopers, in sloper/moulage class. And you know, it just looked close enough for government work, when I safety pin basted the sleeves in. I had the full rotation for arm movement I needed, and didn't see funny pinches and wrinkles in the bodice. So I went ahead and cut out a test garment - Aurora - a 2 yard, 5 inch remnant from my fabric inventory. Aurora will serve the dual purpose of muslin - getting the sleeves working, and a garment I can wear. 

The garment is the story isn't it? And there comes a point when, I just want to quit drafting the tale, finish the editing, and get it out for reading.

http://www.ikatbag.com/2014/03/subtelties-in-drafting-sleeves.html