I made a wearable muslin of the Seamwork Jo. It’s the kind of shirt with pretty details and lots of ease that needs a little finessing to get just right.

Clothing made from quilting cotton often has telltale, cutesy prints, and the drape is terrible. But sometimes, I make clothing from quilting cotton, even though the drape is bad, because Those Prints.

I used an organic quilting cotton. It didn’t need to be organic, but I do really like the shop the fabric came from, and I wanted to support what they do.

I traced a size 2 based on my measurements, and did a 1/2 inch high round back adjustment to the yoke, based on comments from other sewists who have made the pattern. I skipped the cuffs. It’s too hot for sleeves right now.

Instead of gathers, I did an inverted box pleat in the back. I love the pleat, but the pattern has too much ease for my taste. The fabric choice made it worse. I’ll be removing at least two inches of ease from the center back on my next iteration no matter what fabric I use. I reduced the underarm seam allowance on sleeves to provide more ease. The sleeves were just a hair too snug for my liking, but playing with the seam allowance gave me the extra room I needed. I used French seams for the side seams.

I printed the minimum pages from the PDF pattern to squeeze the top out of the pattern. I cut off the front and back pattern pieces at about two pages high. I knew that would be too short, so I added about 3 inches to the bottom using the eyeball method. I added a little more in the back than the front, and did a rounded finish on sides of the back hem.

I finished hem and sleeves with quarter inch hems. I whipped down the inside of the collar by hand, because when top stitching the collar, the seam didn’t catch close enough to the edge.

On my next Seamwork Jo, I’ll remove the front gathers. I don’t have enough on top to fill them out. I know my fabric choice exacerbated this, but even with a nicer drape, there would be too much ease for my taste.

I really like the look of the placket. I chose yellow buttons, but mixed and matched them. I like the low key, quirky result. I skipped the collar button because I knew I would never use it.I used this pattern as a kind of coming out piece, in the sense that I’ve been hitting up against a creative wall for a while now. I purposefully went bolder and stranger than I usually would with my fabric.

I may try some methods for softening the fabric up a bit to improve the drape. Otherwise, I’m a sucker for a button-down with an interesting print, and this was a fun and bold way to try and pull myself out of a creative slump.

My monitor (and maybe the photos themselves?) are making the orange in this print look neon. It is not. It’s just regular orange. 

My photographer is my patient, kind, and helpful eight-year-old. He liked this shirt so much he asked me to make him one. So I did.