A Mermaid-Print Summer Shirt!

Last week Michael and I were on vacation in Sanibel Island, Florida, and naturally I insisted on visiting the only fabric store on the island, Three Crafty Ladies.

They specialize in quality quilting cottons, but they have some great tropical and nautical prints that are perfect for summer shirts.  We ended up buying two: a mermaid print for me and an octopus print for Michael (I'll be making his shirt next).  The mermaid print was designed by Jessica Swift for Art Gallery Fabrics.  It comes in two colorways, Twilight (which I chose) and Orchid.

I decided to make a short-sleeve shirt using a vintage 60's men's shirt pattern, Simplicity 6955.  Other than changing the collar to give it a wider spread and adding a sloping shoulder adjustment, I sewed it as-is.

I decided to use some orange cotton gingham I had in my stash (from Metro Textiles) to make a contrasting inner collar stand, and I also used the gingham for the left-front placket facing (the left side has the buttonholes on a men's shirt).  I cut the gingham on the bias, which seemed like a more interesting choice (and more forgiving, frankly).  I interfaced the bias with a lightweight knit interfacing to prevent stretching.

I tried hard to match the pattern across the front and to cut the other pieces as symmetrically as I could.

I used orange thread for topstitching and chose vintage orange plastic buttons from my stash to maintain with the orange theme.

I really like the way this shirt turned out, though if I were to make it again, I'd choose a different collar stand and collar or draft my own since the one from the pattern is a little wonky; it took me a long time to work out the kinks.

Here's the finished shirt front with collar and contrasting collar stand and placket facing:

Back of shirt:

And here are some modeling shots!

It's fun to sew for myself again -- it's been a long time -- and I'm delighted to have a mermaid-print shirt in my summer wardrobe. 

Have a great day, everybody, and happy summer sewing!