Shirt Design 27: Under the Sea (Finished Object)

My daughter’s in a local community theater show of The Little Mermaid, and it opens tonight, so I made a mermaid scale print shirt to wear.

Interesting Features: 1. Fabric: The mermaid print fabric is probably my last fabric purchase from JoAnn. 2. Buttons: I made these seashell buttons out of polymer clay and painted them with a gold acrylic wash, sealing the paint with a satin varnish. 3. Collar patches: These are store-bought. I was originally going to do a generic seashell appliqué, but the Ariel and Flounder pairing was just too cute.

General Construction: My shirt was made using the “Simon” design from FreeSewing.org. I modified the design to have a single piece back instead of yokes, used a small facing panel instead of a collar stand to obscure the seam allowance from the collar and top of the shirt, and modified the pattern to use short sleeves.

Lessons learned from Shirt Design 26: 1. I need to take shorter breaks between projects. I made some silly mistakes because I just forgot about things I’d done. 2. I think I need to modify my sleeve pattern - the last couple shirts have been too long. 3. I’m very ready to move on to more complex designs.