Yellow Polka Dots

The wind is fierce today so I opted to take photos inside. Here's my happy yellow spring/summer shirt that I sewed for my Fall Essentials Challenge (whoops!) ;) In any case, the weather is still rather autumnal here, so this shirt will have to wait a bit.

I used Simplicity 3887, combining various views. For this time, I chose the tunic length, but I will definitely use this pattern again and make the shorter length with the hip band.

I was originally going for long sleeves, but my fabric ended up being too narrow to fit the sleeves. I suppose I could've pieced together the sleeves, but I just went with the 3/4 length instead. The fabric is really too light to be appropriate for fall/winter, so long sleeves aren't necessary.

Back view, goofing around. You can see here that I have to wear a cami underneath, otherwise it's too see-through!

A close-up on the sleeve. I ran out of lace, so I couldn't do the double stripe as on the pattern envelope:

I sewed by hand the sleeve hems so as not to distract from the lace.

And here's a view of the shirt with the belt, which is probably how I'll wear it most of the time, although not necessarily tied in a bow like that:

I quite like the touches of lace. This was my first project using lace and I have at least two other shirts planned with lace now!

I broke some "rules" regarding my figure and coloring with this project. According to my 'color chart' yellow isn't supposed to flatter my skin tone, but I think it looks okay. Maybe it depends on the shade of yellow.

Also, having gathers on the shoulder is a no-no because that emphasizes my broad shoulders, but I think that the dipping front neckline and back help balance it out. Or maybe I'm just telling myself that 'cuz I like the shirt. ;)

I cut a size 12 originally and it was huge, so I took out probably 4 centimeters from the side seams. I used French seams to sew those up. And then just pinked the rest of the seams. However, I did apply bias binding for the inside neck band because it was pretty ugly just leaving those gathers out in the open like that. This shirt was so easy to put together - no buttons, no zippers - that I didn't mind adding that teensy detail to make it sturdier.

The fabric was on sale when I bought it because it has some permanent stains. I managed to cut around most of the stains, but there is a little bit that shows up on one sleeve. You have to look pretty close though to see it. I didn't take a photo of it. :)

So now I only have one project left for my FESA - Simplicity 2339 - and the fabric is ironed and ready to go.