Don’t you just drool over the elegant simplicity of plain linen garments? I was totally seduced by this symphony in linen:
So I thought, rather than all that busy printing, stencilling and painting, why not make a plain linen shirt for a change? I liked the style of this one, from the same website of a Hobart designer, calling itself ‘the maker’.
Not having a lazy $350 lying around, I got out some mustard linen and my Tessuti Jac Shirt pattern. This is my go-to, but I always lengthen it by 5cm at the line provided for this purpose in the pattern. This time, with my eyes firmly on the my inspiration, I went a bit more extreme and lengthened by 8cm. I also put more swing in the back by putting the back pattern piece at an angle to the fold, touching the fold at the collar end but about 5-10cm away from the fold at the bottom hem.
The traditional method is to slash and spread the pattern piece, but this has always worked just fine for me.
Again following the lead of my inspiration shirt I also widened the neck circumference by 12cm and lengthened the collar stand by the same amount to fit the new circumference. Leaving out the actual shirt collar piece, this makes a nice grandpa collar which now sits much further away from the neck, although possibly not quite as wide as the original. I not only like the look, but find it more comfortable when the collar doesn’t rub against my neck.
So here we are, showing off by trying to imitate the professional poses of my inspo, probably not all that successfully. 🙂
And back to the usual same old same old poses…
See the side vent and the swing at the back? I like that. Without the extra width it is much more flat, like the front. It also does not work lengthened if it is not widened at the same time. Ask me how I know.
Sadly I cannot manage to maintain that freshly ironed look sported by the models.
All photos were taken after a day’s wear. Just look at the back.
The photos don’t show the wrinkles well on the front, but look at the sleeves.
Even after treating the linen for a couple of weeks with soda ash, it still does not wear nearly as well as linen where I have used dye or screen printing ink. Apart from the additional chemicals, it is probably the prints/painting that distract the eye and make garments appear so much less wrinkled that a plain fabric.
So I don’t think this shirt/jacket will make it out of the ironing basket all that often. What a shame. As much as I love gorgeous plain linen, it does not love me back. Sniff!