fiddlehead: Thank you, Alan Flusser

Thank you, Alan Flusser

- Kristen on 24.2.10

Men's clothing designer, mentor to Fonzworth Bentley, apparent inventor of the term "waist pageantry", and creator of a great shirt I picked up at Goodwill on 1/2 off day. What would we do without you, Alan? I've spent the last few days turning the shirt into an Oliver + S 2+2 blouse for Mia.

Whenever I see a pattern that calls for a back button placket I immediately think of making it out of a men's dress shirt. Not because I mind creating the placket or spacing and creating the buttonholes, but because I hate sewing on buttons! Isn't that silly? In this case it turned out to be really silly. Any time and angst I saved on the buttons was respent fivefold trying to deal with matching the plaid at the side seams. With the placket in place, there was no obvious place to adjust the layout to allow for matching. So I had to take width out of the center front of the blouse, which required adjusting the gathering and the front placket construction, and blah, blah, blah. Moral of the story: if you're going to go this route don't use a large scale plaid shirt (although my side seams do look fantastic, if I say so myself).

This is Oliver + S pattern #3, and it is beautifully drafted. I think this is the first set-it sleeve I've done that has great-fitting shoulders and sleeves. If any of you have smaller-boned kiddos, I think this is a winner, and the finish details make it look very RTW. There is definitely a v2 in the future.

I have one more "fun" sewing project cut, and then I must do something I'm dreading. I have 55 yards of velvet and lining cut, selvages trimmed, and partially seamed (thanks Mom. . . can you come back?) to make drapes for my family room. I think I'm dreading it because I have no idea how I am going to manage six widths of heavy fabric under my presser foot. But we have both a fishbowl and heat-loss situation with these windows, so it may go eerily quiet here while I work on them. Say a prayer for me.

11 comments:

I love this shirt! It is so cute. My little girl is about your little one's size so I know it would be a cute pattern for her. I like the thought of using a men's shirt too... I have a bunch of her daddy's that he gave me (I took:). I will have to just say some nasty words when I make it because I love the plaid... it is so sweet. :) Thanks for the inspiration!

Mrs. Doodle said...

1:10 PM

You made such an adorable shirt. I love the pictures of your little girl, she looks so cute in her new outfit. Very beautiful!

Karin said...

1:50 PM

Thanks to both of you for the kind comments. It makes all the plaid-mania worth it. She likes it, too. . . she keeps twirling the ties, which keeps them untied, but that's ok :)

Kristen said...

4:02 PM

It's fantastic! And I'm not a fan of sewing with large plaids either--too frustrating. Love the result, just not the process. And I love how you cut the patch on bias for this one!

Liesl said...

9:02 PM

darling. just darling.

dana said...

10:23 AM

Gorgeous. Totally worth the effort.

Steph said...

2:26 PM

Well now I'm blushing and almost ready to try plaid again. Or not. Thanks, ladies!

Kristen said...

6:41 PM

What you did here is amazing !! Unfortunatly for me, my husband's shirts are all plain white or blue ...