The Floral Empire Shirt Strikes Back!

Having fun at the dressing room at Kohley's!




I just had to make this after receiving from the mail (PR sent this)!

More joyous modeling!


Close-up of this wild and groovy print! Yes, total flower power!


I hereby name this shirt, my "P & T" shirt because there's quite a bit of "pressing and topstitching"!


Pattern Description
I did not see any, but here's my best and brief one:
Fitted shirts with front princess-seamed panels, slight gathers below the bust, back darts, and collar and sleeve options. I sewed View B with the slightly 70's style collar and short puffy sleeves with banded edge.

Sizes
Misses' 6-16. I sewed a "14".


Suggested fabrics
Cotton and cotton blends, laundered cottons, poplin, sateen, lace, eyelet, silks, and stilk types, jacquards, laundered silks-rayons, batiste, voile, soft lightweight linen and linen blends.


Fabric I used
Printed cotton, 50% off at Jo Annie's. I used about 1 3/4 yard. The specs for View B mention 1 5/8 yard for a size 14 and 1 3/4 yard for a size 16.


Directions
Beyond mediocre! With all the great reviews of the pattern, I anticipated this! Every or nearly every step had easy-to-decipher illustrations. If you have made blouses/shirts before, the steps are straightforward.

I could not skim over the steps due to the order of construction differing from what I have been accustomed to. For instance, the hemming of the lower edge of the shirt preceded attaching the front band of the shirt whereas I am used to attaching the front facing of a shirt and hemming much later. I also noticed that the sleeve bands for the puffy short sleeves are attached before sewing the under arm sleeve seams.

It's been awhile since I attached a front band to a shirt (the last time was sewing my husband's Star Trek shirt). The directions and illustrations make it simple. Each front band is interfaced and sewn to its corresponding facing piece on the unnotched edges. The notched edges of each interfaced front band is sewn to the front edge of the shirt, right sides together. The band extends a little beyond the front lower hem as illustrated. The excess portion is opened up and folded right sides together and stitched 5/8" from the bottom edge or up to lower edge of the front of the shirt. After trimming the seam and folding the wrong side to the inside, the front band casing has a nice finish. The front band facings are pressed under and topstitched.

I really like the method of attaching the collar band to the neckline (while heeding the orientation of placement and the notches!) then followed by the collar and collar band facing. The seams are finished with more topstitching.


Likes
*Versatility such as the various sleeve and collar variations

*The princess seamed panels

*The back vertical darts

*The markings (dots, circles) and notches matched up pretty nicely

*The method to attach the collar band and collar


Dislikes
*Just as I read in the other reviews of this pattern, the upper chest area/upper bodice runs somewhat large. I could have used one size lower. The gathers below the bust area nearly reach my waistline.

*The neckline was a tad low for me (but not as famously low as many of those Burda shirts and blouses), but I could wear a camisole for modesty's sake.


Modifications
* I decreased the back darts width by 1/4"
* I used 5 buttons instead of 6.
* I plan to use a size 12 in the upper bodice


Would you recommend this pattern?
I definitely recommend this shirt for something fitted and flattering! Just be prepared for lots of pressing the raw edges under and topstitching! This is now my favorite princess seamed shirt and I plan to make another very soon! I would say this shirt took me one night to cut the pieces and interface the collar, collar band, and front band. Then another morning and afternoon for about 6 hours, which included doing other duties (probably less if I were a speedy sewist). It was a good thing to start off with some not-so-expensive fabric to determine sizing and fitting issues.

Conclusion
This is definitely a versatile and comfortable shirt!