Esther’s Melilot Shirt

With Octobers geometric cotton in the Mini Box Esther made a stunning Deer and Doe Melilot Shirt

I’m still in the process of setting up my sewing room, most of my fabric stash packed and notions in unreachable places. So it’s safe to say that I have not done any sewing since my last SewHayleyJane make. I enjoyed the kick I got when I received this month’s box in the post. Very quickly, I started unpacking my sewing bits and setting up my sewing room.

This month, I have the Mini Box and deciding what to make was so easy. It doesn’t happen often, especially when I have the Mini Box. I overthink what’s best to make and if I’d have enough fabric to make what’s on my mind. Not this month. This month, the fabric spoke to me and it was so clear what I had to make. I’ve done minimal sewing over the past few months and even then, I have made mostly bottoms. With the proportion of bottoms I own, it’s becoming increasingly difficult to dress up because my bottoms don’t have enough tops. As such, I have committed to making some tops, blouses and shirts.

My disproportionate number of bottoms is due to the number of adjustments I need to make to bodices. I know most people hate sewing trousers but I’ve been lucky in sewing trousers. For whatever reason, I barely need adjustments in sewing trousers, except jeans. Anyway, the lack of adjustments has made it easy for me to sew trousers and it’s the same for skirts. With my ease of fitting bottoms, I guess it’s no surprise that I require a good number of adjustments for bodices to fit. In my head, the adjustments I need to make for bodices are justified when I’m making a dress, I guess my mind feels like the effort matches the results. However, with tops, I have always felt the effort did not match the result.

I have decided to take the approach of doing the required adjustments for two or three patterns and then keep making them with different variations of sleeves, necklines and lengths. In comes the Deer and Doe Melilot shirt. Forget everything I said earlier about the numerous adjustments I need for well fitted bodices because this pattern required zero adjustments. I guess the fact that Deer and Doe draft for a C cup helps a lot. Also, this shirt has a casual fit so it makes life easier.

This wasn’t my first time making this pattern, I think it may now be safe to call it a TNT. I made the version with cuffed short sleeves and a mandarin collar. It was such an easy make. The first reason was the fabric. My favourite fabric to sew is cotton. I’m sure the reason is obvious. The fabric is wonderfully stable making it a dream to cut and sew. And of course, it’s cotton so it presses beautifully and easily. The second was the pattern. For a shirt, this pattern requires few pieces. The button placket is created by folding over the centre front so makes life easier because button plackets can be quite fiddly to handle.

I enjoyed making this shirt and I’m certain this would be getting a lot of wear out of me. I look forward to layering this shirt up over the Autumn and Winter.