Burdastyle Camp(er) Shirt

 This is another camp shirt sewn to amuse a grandchild. In this case I'm aiming at my grandson, who is very into RVs. He and my son are working on his Mom, trying to persuade her that they need to buy a $55,000 camper. This is the same son who, as a child, preferred fancy hotels with room service and hated hiking because he didn't want to get his sneakers dusty. Go figure.

Last time I made a camp shirt I used another Burdastyle pattern, blouse 116A from the April, 2012 issue. I like that one pretty well, but I'd say this pattern has a more traditional fit. It's cut longer and looser, with a pleat in the back to add extra ease.

Here's a closer look at that pleat, and also at the RV print. 

This pattern has a back yoke, but no inner yoke, so the seam between the yoke and back is visible inside. This is the first time I've made a shirt like that and part of me imagined shrinking from the visible seam allowance. But, heck, it's a camp shirt, not a dress shirt, so I made it according to directions. And it isn't bad at all. If you top stitch that baby down it's  just like any other inner seam.

I'm pretty well supplied with camp shirts at the moment, but you never know when a cute print is going to come along. I'm glad to have two patterns traced out that work for me.

I'll pack this top for my upcoming trip to SoCal to see the grandkids. I'm hoping Miles gets a bigger kick out of the RV shirt than Margot did out of the mermaid shirt. 

My pattern review is on PatternReview.com here.

Archer in Linen

 I seem to be developing a linen problem. I keep getting these emails from the Fabrics-store in the middle of the night. Their write-ups are impossible to resist. Here's what they had to say about this cut, which is a lightweight linen in Cobalt: 

"Dark, brooding and dramatic, the intense blue of COBALT linen was ideal for Renaissance painter Jacopo Vignali's heightened, operatic scenes. 

A leading painter in the Florentine Seicento, Vignali's Baroque paintings were defined by flowing swathes of jewel-toned fabric in midnight blues and crimson reds; set amidst theatrical, directional light, these richly toned colors amplify the romantic agony and tragedy of his stories."

Right?! 

And when it arrived, I wasn't disappointed. It's lightweight and almost sheer, with a bit of a sheen and very nice movement. And the color is a really lovely deep blue; almost navy but brighter. Beautiful.

I used the Grainline Archer pattern, which I've made a fair few times before. I really like the fit, and there's a sew-along on Youtube that really helps with the fiddly parts (hello, collar stand and sleeve plackets).

I hear that linen improves with age, becoming softer and more comfortable with each wash. If that's true, this will be my favorite shirt of all time. 

And I won't feel too guilty about the three other hunks of linen I bought this month. 

My pattern review is on PatternReview.com here.