Space Cadet - Salute to Kalle!

This is my first project of 2018! Wow did it take a long time to materialise...

I instantly fell for and bought the Kalle Shirt sleeve expansion for the Closet Case Patterns Kalle Shirt Dress and knew exactly what fabric would work. Set about cutting in December last year....then nothing. I have no idea why either.

But here it is...and it was worth the wait. I was meticulous about every detail this time, which makes a change for me, and made sure to do things properly rather than rush through. Hence why its now the end of January and only just finished. You'll have to excuse the poor light levels as the UK is lurking somewhere under a blanket of pure grey and we haven't been allowed out yet.

Firstly let me attest to how PERFECT this pattern is. The shirt is good, the dress is good and dammit the tunic is amazing too. It it hands down THE perfect shirt for me. A long cosy shirt to go over leggings - my uniform. It's so well drafted, hangs wonderfully and I also found it to be an excellent length. I did however make a few tweaks though...just because.

Epaulettes! For some reason this just naturally occurred. It felt right to add them to this lovely material and the shape of the shirt to give it a bit of a twist and a bit of a military vibe. Plus I wanted to use studs, and in the end opted for these amazing ladybird buttons from Textile Garden.  So it's more eco-warrior than mercenary - you can't get mad at a ladybird.

The fabric I used here is Ocean Herringbone Shetland Flannel by Robert Kaufman. I first saw it on Meg and instantly purchased it with the intention of making something similar to her Archer. Because Meg is cool and I need to copy her. Fact. The fabric has however been languising in my stash ever since. Embarassingly I've just seen the date on her post and it was 2015....good thing's come to those who wait?!

This is most certainly a winter shirt as this stuff is thick. The shirt has taken on an almost jacket feel to it! As I result I also went for a few changes to the yoke and inner collar as I wasn't sure my machine would go through 2cm of flannel. Enter the #prettyguts with the addition of some astronaut fabric gifted to me by a lovely friend.

Rolling with a theme I decided to percevere and create bias binding with it aswell. This part was tricky as the binding is so thin and unravelling was a risk. With a hell of a lot of pinning and pressing, it got there in the end.

This was also my first attempt at box plackets (is that the word??) on the sleeves and was a little dubious however it came together of sorts. Not perfect but not bad, plus the fabric hides the threads really well. I ran out of ladybirds at this point, and will power to leave the house, so the sleeves have 'eclectic' buttons.

I adore this shirt and hope in the spirit of #makerscapsule it it going to get some wear - it fits the secret pyjama, smart casual criteria :) I will ABSOLUTELY be making another.

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