The Charlotte Shirt

I just can’t wait until Friday to tell everyone about my latest finished project!  It’s a sewing one this time.

Welcome to my new shirt.  It’s called The Charlotte Shirt from The Magic Pattern Book. It’s a pattern book with a CD of PDFs or you can download it from the internet via a link you receive. Printing the patterns and piecing them together took almost as long as making this project.  The idea is that you have 6 “basic” patterns and can mix and match pieces to have 36 complete designs.  The concept intrigued me and I decided to take a brave jump into the world of clothing sewing.  I haven’t made an article of clothing for myself since I was 12 … when no one pointed me away from a project that involved knit fabric.  In stripes.  Yeah, I don’t think it turned out well since I don’t remember wearing it.

I loved making the ruffles for the front even though they took just as long as sewing the main portion of the shirt.  The original pattern called for making your own bias tape from the same fabric, but mine looked like a disaster so I just went to the store and purchased bias tape for 99¢ and decided to go with a contrasting color instead of white.  It’s a comfortable shirt but unfortunately the fabric I chose wrinkles very easily … I had to iron it (again) before this picture was taken.  I have no idea what fabric it is – some type of cotton that had been hanging around my stash for years.  I’m sure I probably inherited it from my aunt.  I didn’t want to invest a lot into this project other than time in case it didn’t work out.  Even if I only wear it a few times, the biggest expense was the bias tape and matching grey thread I bought last week.

If I were to make it again I would do the following differently:

1. Use a soft draping fabric
2. Probably make it in a patterned fabric or darker solid.
3. I’d trim the sides to make it a bit more form-fitting.  It flares out quite a bit at the bottom.
4. Make the sleeves shorter.  I’m not a huge fan of 3/4 length sleeves.

Any comments?  I’ll welcome criticisms too (if you’re gentle 😀 )

This post contains affiliate links. I was not compensated for my mini-review of the book/pattern and all opinions are my own.