Vegas shirt

It's hard to say whether it's the shirt itself or just the awesome fabric, but I love my Vegas Shirt! Sewing always feels more worthwhile when I make something that I know I can't find anywhere else. I found this fabric in The Fabric Store (my usual go-to place) at the same time as buying the striped fabric for the Gold Stripe Pleated Midi Skirt. 

I used Vogue DKNY pattern #V1462 to make the shirt with very minimal changes. My fabric was slightly too narrow for the pattern, but I was dead set on making it work! I had to sacrifice cutting out the interfacing for the bottom hem, but this ended up working out perfectly since I was able to use bias binding instead. The bias binding created a nice finish and was and easy to sew in place. 

While the shirt did take a while to make, this was justified by the beautiful seams and expert finish that goes without saying when you buy a good quality Vogue pattern. The shirt has French side seams and in the sleeves - something I hadn't tried before. Given I don't own an overlocker, I'm fairly excited to have discovered a seam that hides loose threads!

The hidden buttons add a nice touch, although I did find that the fabric I used was possibly a bit heavy for this technique. The cuffs were probably my biggest pain point and involved the most unpicking. I also had a slight disaster when I was cutting a button hole on one of the cuffs and ripped straight through the fabric!  Thankfully I had just enough fabric leftover to redo that cuff, so all was well in the end. 

One of the great advantages of this pattern is that it can be used for everything from "fun Vegas shirts" to creating a super professional work shirt. It's a great staple for keeping in your pattern collection, so I'd say it's worth the extra cost.