Plaid attitude - new to me: Burda 6840 blouse

January is here, thus I must make a plaid shirt. Well not really but I made one last January, seen here, but that one was flannel and this one is not. Ok, let's get it out of the way - I found this fabric at a garage sale. Yep, last summer just stopped by one where I saw a sign, saw the bins of fabric and rummage through some awful stuff to came up with a vintage-y plaid cotton, super soft and perfect for a shirt. So maybe 4 yards for a couple of bucks? Sold.

But I am getting ahead of the actual news in this post. I used a new pattern! A new to me at least. Not sure when this was released but it is a Burda Envelope pattern 6840 with two views, a collared shirt or a bow blouse. I love a pattern with multiple views!

I would say this pattern has features of what I consider a blouse or a shirt. What is the difference?  In my mind a shirt is a style that can be worn by a man or woman but a blouse is female only. Sound right? I am sure there is some technical definition. But as you can see this blouse has no darts but instead pleats at the shoulder yoke. Which made it perfect for a plaid as it could match at the side seams with no horizontal dart to consider.  The sleeves matched up well, or at least I fiddled around with the layout/cutting until I decided they would match. I like a plaid to match across the body and continue to the sleeves. 

Also a hidden button placket. Hidden Button Placket !!!  I love this design element and SO few patterns have this. It is such a pain to add it but this one is beautiful! 

And now I will show you my hidden button secret. I only had 7 of these perfect little red buttons in my button box. No idea where they came from but I liked the way they matched so I have used a few white buttons on the lower part of the shirt front - they will never be seen except now I just showed you. 

Not bad with that plaid, huh?  It is such a pleasure to work with a well behaved cotton. Makes me realize that some of the c*** they sell at the chain fabric stores is so not worth the bother. 

As for this pattern, I have two tiny criticisms of the design elements. First, there are 4 pleats on the shirt front. Somehow I thought it was just a little bit too full there, for me 3 pleats would have been fine. However if you have a full chest this pattern might just be a nice choice, plenty of room in the bust. Second little criticism, I think the collar stand is a tiny bit skimpy in height. it is maybe 1/8-1/4" shorter than the collar stand on my other shirt pattern - the Simplicity one. I think were I to make this again I might make that a bit taller. But that is just personal preference. 

Here is a look at the pattern envelope, Burda 6840. When I bought it I thought the bow blouse was very pretty but on further reflection the bow would probably drive me crazy so I don't see that in my future. But it is pretty!   Burda question - is it just me or is Burda very skimpy on the pattern markings? I am accustomed to Vogue patterns which have way more notches and markings. For example, sleeves with front/back notches. dots etc. While I might not use them or even believe them, I like them to be there.  Slight nitpick which I realize makes no sense, but there it is.

And it fits quite well. A perfect shirt to wear with jeans. The sleeves are a bit long, I did not shorten them and I knew they would be long, but I like shirt sleeves to have length, sometimes I wear with a sweater and the cuffs pulled out, or rolled up so the extra length is good. The actual length of the shirt was quite long so I shortened by about 2 inches. 

There is an inverted pleat in the center back which is a feature I always like. I have my hand in my pocket which is making the lower portion tight around the hip but it falls straight. There is no shaping in the back but that is the design which is how a shirt with a center back pleat should fit.

What else?  Cuffs - you can see I used up 4 of my precious little red buttons on the cuffs. I like a 2 button cuff so that only left 3 for the shirt front.  When doing the sleeves I started to make a placket but after a few minutes thought why bother, and so did the easy shirt cuff finish. What is that called? It is just a slice in the bottom of the sleeve and a strip sewn and folded over? Anyway it works well on this type of fabric. I did make it a bit longer than as shown on the pattern which makes it easier to roll up the sleeves. Cuffs are always too big around for my dainty wrists (ha) but I leave them as is and just move the buttons over.  Cut them on the bias just for fun, I like the look. 

Here is why I was motivated to make this shirt now. I received this sweater for a Christmas gift and I love it. Perfect match for the shirt fabric. I have worn this outfit twice now already which is a sewing success, hot off the sewing machine and right onto me!

So a new pattern for January, and I have purchased a couple of others recently. They had Burda envelope patterns on sale at Joann's for $ 2.49 which is a steal and I just saw them again on sale this month. Maybe a new trend?  I am waiting for the Vogues to go on sale as I have decided on a couple of those also.

Happy Sewing, Beth

The much needed rain made an appearance in December and we all breathed a sigh of relief. As it turns out that was premature - it has been a totally dry January with nothing in sight. I think this year's new plantings will be succulents which do well in our now very dry California. For today's garden photo, a pink Hibiscus which I had outside up until a week ago when it seemed too cold. So living indoors now and putting out a gorgeous bloom every so often.