Hi adventurous ladies, sewing for yourselves! I am honored to be hosting a sew-along for the EuroStyle Sewing group on Facebook, but if you have found my blog and would like to join in, of course you can! The great thing about blog-hosted sew-alongs is that they are open to all and not really time sensitive. Do things at your own pace.
During this sew-along, we will be making something just for us that we could, potentially, get a lot of wear out of, some selfish sewing at it's best! The pattern we have chosen is the Shelly shirt from Jolijou which can be bought here.
You can see some examples of finished shirts here.
Now, you might notice that the instructions are not in English. That may not be a problem for you, but if it is freaking you out, do not fear, Google Translate is here.
All you need to do is buy and download the pattern, open up Google Translate in your browser, and get started translating. Just below the empty box where you could choose to copy and past text if you like, is the option to click on "translate a document." Click that. Choose the file you just downloaded, the Shelly PDF that says shelly-anleitung.pdf. Voila! Translated to mostly understandable English just for you.
Now, just a couple of things before we begin. I suggest that you not use your fanciest, most favorite knit for your first Shelly. Although it can be a pain to make a wearable muslin, it can be more disheartening to make something in a fabric you love, only to realize that if you'd just known to tweak this or that in the pattern, you would have liked the garment a lot better. Trust me, I've done it. Then I've put it in my closet, because, after all, I loved the fabric.... then I get disappointed all over again every time I look at it and it never gets worn and the pattern gets put in my "probably won't be making this again" pile.
Secondly, be careful about the knit you choose for your final shirt. What we love while it lays on the cutting table in front of us, we may not love on our bodies. If you have not sewn for yourself much, it may take some time to be discriminating and learn what you like and what looks good on you. I had several mis-steps in fabric choice over the first year or so of selfish sewing and only after I really started paying attention to what I already had that I loved and what I was drawn to when shopping, was I able to better train myself to choose fabric that I would really enjoy wearing.
Along that same vein, don't let someone's not-so-stellar fabric choice in a Shelly deter you from the pattern. It's a basic t-shirt with variations and with smart choices based on your body type and the season, that is something we can ALL use in our wardrobes!
I'll be back Friday with the first real installment of the Sew-Along!
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