Sewing Workshop Bamboo Shirt

I've just finished the Bamboo shirt and am pleased with how it turned out. The shirt is designed larger, so I made it in a size "small", a size smaller than my measurements and it is still very roomy, but I don't feel like I drown in it.





According to the pattern envelope, the Bamboo Top is: Very loose-fitting, unlined jacket/top has slightly forward shoulder seams, extended shoulders, shoulder pleats, mock neck band, front band and yoke shield, vertical welt pocket and long two-piece sleeves pleated into button cuffs.

Quite a mouthful.

This was my first welt pocket and my first successful buttonholes with this machine. I've had horrendous problems in the past making buttonholes and have avoided making them like the plague. But I chose this pattern to force myself to resolve the issues.

My machine is a Nina, a basic Bernina, that was sold in South Africa. It seems to be equivalent to a Bernette 70/75. Yes, I know I need a newer machine...but now that I've fixed this issue, I'm content with this one. It uses a one-step buttonhole method.

The buttonhole solution:
1) A fresh machine needle
2) a freshly wound bobbin
3) Proper positioning of the buttonhole lever
4) Making sure that the stitching area is smooth, I actually moved the placement at the bottom button and the third one down so that I wasn't making buttonholes over seam allowances.



So my confidence has returned!!! I've also finished my first garment in my 6-PAC Plan. I can now change serger threads and move onto all the black garments, I still have until the end of the month to finish.

Firsts!!!

One of my goals in life is to learn, always learn new things and try out new experiences. So in this spirit I specifically chose the Bamboo shirt by Sewing Workshop for the Six-Piece Autumn Collection sew-along. To make things simpler it will now be called the 6-PAC. Thanks to Elizabeth (ejvc at Stitchers Guild) for coming up with the acronym.

I spent yesterday working on the shirt and have now made my very first welt pocket. It got off to a rocky start as I confused the pockets' right and wrong sides, but I just adjusted the markings and made the pocket bag smaller. The vertical welt pocket is just a design detail, as I wouldn't really put anything into such as pocket, so it really didn't matter if I goofed the pocket bag.



I was also busy making tucks and pleats on the back and have more pleats to look forward to on the cuffs. I also want to look for flesh toned interfacing. Do they make this?? I don't like the way the white interfacing shines through the white fabric.

I'm dreading making the buttonholes, as my machine seems to wig out every time I flip to the automatic buttonhole setting. But I will persevere and figure something out.

On a positive note....I have my serger back from service and it's stitching like a dream. It has never worked this well.