My First Shirt

My first shirt came after my circle skirt and my first dress. Even so, it felt a little daunting. I was still quite new to dressmaking and not very confident, and a shirt has a lot of parts to get right.

The pattern

I got the pattern from my local shop again. It's the same shop where I bought my circle skirt pattern, and they have lots of patterns to choose from.

The fabric

I used a soft polyester in ivory. It felt really soft, and I thought it would make a lovely shirt to wear. Being ivory, it could also be worn with lots of different things, so it would be versatile. If you're curious about polyester and how it behaves, there's more on the Synthetic Fibers page.

Taking my time

Because I wasn't confident, I took my time over the shirt to get every stage as correct as possible, and I measured everything multiple times.

The collar and cuffs were the most troublesome parts. They weren't too bad, though, because I'd already sewn the waistbands on my skirts, and that practice meant my technique had improved.

It went smoothly

I surprised myself: the shirt went smoothly. I think that's because I took so long over it. Now that I've done it once, I think I can work faster while still keeping things accurate.

Wearing it

I do still wear it, and I feel really proud of it. But I don't wear it out. Although it looks good, it's not perfect, and I'm self-conscious of every little imperfection. I know from my dress that these are probably things nobody else would ever notice.

What I learned

• Slow and careful works. Taking my time and measuring everything several times is why the shirt went smoothly.
• Speed comes later. Once you've done something carefully once, you can work faster without losing accuracy.
• Practice carries over. Sewing waistbands on my skirts made the collar and cuffs easier.
• Choose fabric for how you'll wear it. I picked this one for how soft it felt and how many things it would go with.