I got this wild flight of fancy in the dark days of winter - you know when the days were short and darkness reigned. The time of year I hate the most and want to fill with the most color and light as possible.
Supplies ~
I was surfing fabric sites because I needed some comfort and found this amazing panel on fabric dot com with a coordinating print.
Doesn't this fabric just scream warm summer evenings! So yes, it's a quilting cotton but I've had success with other quilting cotton panels and after some hesitation because of price, I bought three panels. First off, I should have bought four...but we will get to that later! Oh and because I'm so timely (joke, joke) with this post, the fabric is long gone!
During February I took a week off to sew. I needed some days to sleep and create and this was the first project I worked on.
A few more photos of the process...
This back was a whole hot ass mess, so I put the shirt pieces away and worked on some other garments during my sewcation. While I working on the other pieces, I was pondering how to save this. Obviously the back was the main problem. It wasn't working and wouldn't work with the 24" panel width.
Construction Techniques ~
After I made that hot mess of a back, I had to come up with another look. I will admit the shirts I've been most comfortable wearing during the pandemic have the gathered lower back eased into the back yoke. Plenty of room for those extra pounds I gained. But I only had one panel for the back and I just couldn't see how to make it work. That's when that disastrous back was created and immediately ditched.
After thinking on it I decided a solid back would be the answer. I went and touched quilting cottons at the store. Then decided upon this printed blue fabric that I used to construct the back of the shirt.
Making the collar...
Inserted the sleeves, okay auditioning sleeves...
...and the back quilting cotton is making the shoulders and sleeves buckle because they aren't similar weights. *sigh* I should have known better.
I let this shirt sit for 2 weeks before admitting I was done. I don't want to save it. I don't want to add my good buttons to the front and finish it. I basically threw a hissy fit because I'm tired of it. So now it sits on the clothing rack. After a couple of weeks, I decided the fabric is too heavy to think about finishing now...so it sits. My first UFO for 2021.
Thus the title of the blog post - cause it's a hot mess! BTW, I've completed two pieces just have to photograph them. But it's summertime, my grandkids are getting older and my photographer (my daughter) has things planned for their family for the summer. I've scheduled a day so hopefully the completed items will be coming to the blog soon.
To all who celebrate, Happy Father's Day!
...as always more later!