Perkins Shirt - Ensemble Patterns

 Hola a todos!

 Not a lot of sewing has been going on here for a few week and the ol' brain was stagnating a tiny bit so a fresh challenge was needed. 

Enter the Perkins Shirt Dress by Ensemble Patterns. 

I love making shirts, I think it's that they break down into small steps very easily and so catching a bit of sewing time here and there is much easier to do when each step is a 10 minute job. 

The Size 

My measurements put me at a 16/18 however there is a very handy finished measurements chart provided and from this, that size was looking a little too roomy.  I decided to cut a straight 14 as this still gave the bust a very generous 14" of ease. Instead of bringing the shirt into a cocoon shape, I just cut straight down for a straight shirt. There was still sufficient ease to get around my hips.  

The Pattern

This shirt stood out to be on The Foldline as 'a bit different' due to it's raglan sleeves, unusual shape and the split collar. A shirt with all the trimmings it seems. 

There is a regular version and a gathered version and 3 length options for each. There's also a manadrin collar, normal collar and split collar option for all of those!

In need of a puzzle I went for a gathered version, tunic length, with split collar.

 The most time consuming part of this make was by far the cutting out. So very many pieces. 

What is not evident from the pictures is that there are NO exposed seams anywhere! If you're into pretty guts (neat insides) then you'll love this. The back yokes, both sleeves and sleeve hems are 'burritoed' if that can be used as a verb and the rest french seamed.

I did top stitch the split yoke together instead of trying to stitch inside of it, it gave a much neater finish at the V point as I wasn't too good at the proper method in the instructions.

There was a serious triple burrito situation happening on the sleeves and I'll level with you - I really don't know how I managed it, it just sort of, worked. (After much entanglement and flailing around). It certainly was the brain teaser I was after. Don't be put off though, once done it looks great!

The split collar is a great little detail which I'm surprised I like so much (not being one for extraneous 'jazz' on my clothes.) It pulls in with some enclosed neck ties for a great bit of eye-candy detail. 

A bit of weirdness with this pattern was that the back piece gathered nicely, but once I'd gathered and distributed the front pieces - the gathers essentially just disappeared. Pretty sure that's me having done something wrong but I still like it.

The Fabric

Gorgeous gorgeous green teal zebra viscose from Fabric Godmother in the sale. Mmmmmm I love it. The camera had some difficulties picking up the colour but it's a gorgeous green in real life. I think this colour is now out of stock but there are others. 

The Details

I love popping a label in my makes and so this Kylie and the Machine one was ideal. When 'good enough' is more than fine.

And last but not least, it's been a while since I popped a tortoise on something and so these little beauties from Textile Garden found their stash-to-sewn destiny on this shirt. 

 I hope this review is of some use - I've not seen too many versions of this pattern out there but it's definitely one I would repeat in due course!

Hasta leugo!

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