I have finally reached a point where instead of making the latest, greatest, shiniest thing, I’m making wardrobe staples to replace the ill-fitting RTW (Ready-To-Wear) clothes in my closet. It might sound boring to some but I find some of the greatest satisfaction in making clothes I will wear the heck out of and not just for special occasions.
Enter the Sewaholic Granville Shirt: I LOVE this pattern to make shirts for work and so far I’ve made six with more planned.
I desperately needed to replace a striped work shirt that was on its last leg and immediately knew I wanted to use this black and white chambray striped cotton shirting as soon as I saw it. (Looks like it’s just about gone, so check out other options here!)
I made a straight size 10 for the Granville. I love having a pattern where I don’t need to make many modifications! The only thing I changed is shortening the sleeves by one inch.
I don’t have baby T-Rex arms, it’s just that this pattern has unusually long arms (my humble opinion).
The only thing think I’ll do for next time is take in the back seams a little at the waist so it lays flatter against my back – easy enough to tweak!
I salvaged the buttons from that tired old RTW striped shirt and used them for this one. I love doing that with my old shirts as I don’t have to make a trip to the store to get buttons!
This fabric is easy to sew, but just be warned that the stripes can induce dizziness while sewing! I had to take a couple of breaks to rest my eyes but it was definitely worth it for a great quality work shirt I’ll wear for a long time!
I made another shirt, but this time I used the very bright, very beautiful magenta “Greenwich” fine chambray by Robert Kaufman.
Isn’t it stunning?! I am becoming a fan of Robert Kaufman fabrics as documented by yet another Granville I made earlier this year with the RK pepper “vivid” cotton shirting.
Just like the striped chambray shirting, this one was also easy to sew. I use flat-felled seams on my Granvilles so they stand up to lots of wear and tear (and I don’t need to bust out my serger!).
I also used buttons from a RTW shirt that was too worn out for donating:
I am very happy with my new work shirts and am still dreaming of a whole closet full of Granvilles!
What’s your go-to pattern for work wear? Share in the comments!
In the meantime, keep WORKIN’ it!
-RED
You can follow more of Rachel’s adventures in sewing and cat wrangling at sewredy.wordpress.com!