Sewn: Style Arc Maggie Shirt

Hold on to your hats - there's more than a hint of colour here! This is the Style Arc Maggie shirt, and it is wonderful.

 I've had my eye on this pattern for a couple of years now, it's a style that's always appealed to me: short grown on sleeves, simple stand collar, yoke, and the icing on the cake, a half placket.

So I had been keeping this pattern in the back of my mind for a while, when I remembered this great fabric that I picked up last summer while visiting friends in Stockholm. The print is big and bold, and I could finally picture the Maggie in action.

The fabric is very silk-like, but I'm fairly certain it's polyester. But it's beautiful, and feels great against the skin. Cutting, however, was a bit of a trial, as I had only 1 metre, it's very slippery, and I cut on the floor. (Side note, this is the size 12, and my fabric was 60" wide - a larger size would not have fit). Naturally, after carefully placing the pieces, I reversed the right and left front, and now the tricksy placket is on the wrong side, but at that point, I just went with it. The print is busy enough to hide my mistake!

Oh, the placket - I spent a good hour trying to figure it out by folding the paper pattern this way and that, searching (fruitlessly!) for information online, and finally just went for it. It looks just fine, but I'd like to revisit and improve on the method if I make this again! I felt like a contestant on the Great British Sewing Bee, stumped by the lack of step by step illustration! There is a centre front seam, but the placket is part of the right and left side fronts, not a separate piece. I ended up with a raw edge hanging free inside, which seemed as though it should somehow be tucked in. I resorted to fray check and a bit of hand sewing to keep things in place.

Placket innards

It's actually quite long when untucked.

There's a nice inverted pleat at the centre back, too.

All in all I am very pleased with how this turned out, and I would recommend the pattern, just take your time with the placket, and let me know if you've figured out how to finish it off neatly!

Until next time...