My first proper shirt

I made a shirt!! 💃

This is the #olyashirt by @paper_theory, which is sized for 80-167cm bust. It has an interesting one-piece front yoke/sleeve, pockets in the yoke/front seams, and all the other classic shirt details you’d expect.

This is my first real shirt, and I’m so damn proud of it! It’s rated as suitable for advanced sewists, but I just took it slowly and relied a lot on the blog sewalong to help me understand the instructions. @paper_theory also published a really good video sewalong on YouTube this week, so if I’d waited a couple of days it probably would have been a bit easier 😅 (I think video tutorial makes it an intermediate level project, or even a project for fearless beginners.)

I made this shirt in organic cotton poplin, and graded from a size 6 bust out to size 12 hip (lower front and back pieces only). I think it was worth grading despite the ample ease on this pattern - the shirt hangs comfortably over my hips when worn untucked, and isn’t too baggy at the bust.

The recommended fabric yardage was pretty spot-on for me – there’s a table with yardage per size, and as usual I tried to optimize my layout, but didn’t gain much this time. I did, however, cut my pieces in the opposite direction than I’d planned, but it still looks cool so I don’t care anymore (lesson learned, don’t cut fabric when you’re tired lol).

I’m very happy with the green buttons - I ran polls in my stories between options I had in my tiny stash, and these ones came out clearly on top. They kind of fade into the colours of the shirt, letting the floral print do all the work.

I love this shirt and will be wearing it often. I’m now officially a shirt person, and am planning to make another linen one soon (with the button placket going left over right – just to stick a finger to the patriarchy as mentioned in the instruction booklet 😆).

#papertheorypatterns #diyshirt #shirtsewing #petitesewing #cousettefabrics