I finally finished my last two garments for the Summer of Basics sew along – however, there was a change in plans along the way! Originally, I planned on making a Kelly Skirt since I don’t have a lot of skirts in my closet anymore (no idea how that happened). But after wearing the Maritime shorts I made last summer so much this year, I changed my mind and made a new pair of shorts instead of a skirt. I love how both of these garments turned out!
Let’s talk the shirt first: I altered my original Alder Shirtdress pattern to make it into a plain shirt by following Jen’s tutorial on the Grainline blog. I tried on my dress I made earlier this spring and liked the length at just after the sixth button, so I altered the hem and shortened it to that length. The only alteration I didn’t take into consideration, and will on subsequent Alder shirts/dresses, is raising the bust dart up. See, when I made my shirtdress this spring, I used the upper part of the Archer shirt with the bottom as the Alder dress to make my pattern, I never used the bodice portion of the Alder pattern. If I had, I would have noticed that the bust dart hit below my bust and needed to be raised, like I usually do on patterns with bust darts. I don’t know why I didn’t do that alteration this go-around, but now I know – d’oh!
Isn’t this fabric the cutest? It’s a cotton poplin I bought at Ribes y Casals in Barcelona this spring. It was one of those fabrics that just jumps out at you and says, “take me home!”
I cut out these Maritime Shorts last year at the end of summer and put them to the side until warm weather rolled around this year – I’m glad I did! These are made out of a navy blue pique from Fabric Place Basement and go with so much in my closet. Navy is creeping in more and more this year and I like it as an alternative to black, especially in the summer. Anywho, I made this version of the Maritime Shorts with back pockets this time and used a button closure I found in my stash. Jen, if you’re reading, I hope you come out with a pants pattern because these fit 100% perfectly without any alterations! I guess I could always blend the shorts pattern block with another pants pattern…but still, a girl can wish 🙂
This sewalong was a lot of fun and added some needed basics into my closet. I think I’d like to do a sewalong like this for every season, and it’s good to become aware of the gaps in your wardrobe. For fall, I’m focusing more on bottoms than I usually do – more to come on that!
Fabric: cotton poplin from Ribes y Casals, cotton pique from Fabric Place Basement