Fourth Simplicity 2666 - Done

I sat down to get Elizabeth's shirt done for the lake, and look at the disorganization I'm battling on my cutting table! The far left is the pile of swimsuit stuff - 3 fabrics and 2 patterns all mixed up. Plus wax paper for tracing - yes, I actually traced a pattern instead of cutting it up! The red bear was purchased by Lucas at a flea market ("Mom, can we go to the flea market today? Huh? Can we?") and began life looking over his left shoulder. Lucas prefers facing life head-on, so I had to decapitate the thing and sew it back on, but it's coming undone.



Next to the bear are the 2 madras fabrics for the shorts I hope to wear this summer (yeah, right), followed by leftovers from a Jalie blouse that I hope to make a T-shirt for Lucas with, and lastly another pair of shorts for Lucas waiting to be.



Now I love this pattern's easiness, but this is view B which I haven't done before. It has ties at the shoulder seam and an overlapped bodice (is that what you call that?). Well, did I read ahead to find out that the shoulder seam allowance is actually the casing for the ties? No, I noted on the pattern piece that 3/8" seam is allowed, so I very nicely zigzagged a narrow shoulder seam. DOH! So on the other shoulder I sew a straight seam in 5/8" and try to use it for the casing, seen below.



Pure suckiness - can you see the hand-stitching I had to do at the bottom of the pic to hold the seam closed over the ties? Awful, although from the outside you can't tell.



Well the little zigzagged shoulder isn't going to work like that, so I decide to fashion a casing and enclose that seam. First I spent 30 minutes trying to put the ties in place with the casing over them and sew it nicely from the right side, but that was ridiculous, so I just gave in and did it the easy way.



It came out looking better than the other one for sure. Note to other sewists doing this shirt - leave a LARGE seam allowance at the shoulder seam, despite what the pattern piece says.



Everything else went together nicely, till I was overly aggressive with the gathering at the left bustline and gathered the fabric right off the thread. Gotta go back and do that again - it' amazing what gathering can do for you. I tried this on and thought, "Holy crap, my right boob is twice the size of my left!" I actually checked to make sure something wasn't going on that I missed in the shower! (Sorry for the crappy picture, but it was midnight.)



So I'm leaving it basted at this point so we can fit it at the lake. I don't know how you women sew for clients when they're not with you to try it on - I'm nervous about the fit, and don't even get me started on the seam finishes!



I did line the front bodice, Elizabeth, because it was sheer, so you won't be selling raisins at the lake! (Heard that from a fellow PR reviewer of this shirt.)