Based on my wearable muslin, I made some changes to my Seamwork Jo pattern pieces to get the fit I wanted. Click through to see the finished shirt and for a rundown of the pattern hacking.

I started with the size 2 (for B34″ W27″ H36″) and removed the gathers from the front of the shirt by making two lengthwise cuts down the pattern and overlapping them half an inch. I reduced the fabric on the back of the shirt by taking two full inches from the back center.

I did a 1/2 inch high round back adjustment on the yoke. I also shortened the yoke width by about two inches (total reduction 4 inches) to shorten the sleeves. I forgot to shorten the front pattern piece’s sleeves. I had to scoop out the front pattern pieces later to get the sleeve opening even.I was making so many changes to the sleeves that I got lost in the weeds. Sliding the sleeve back made the armcye bigger. First problem: those gross sleeves where you can see straight to that tender spot below a person’s armpit that is more private than private parts. Second problem: the cuff piece in the pattern no longer fit.

When I made my muslin, I used scant seam allowances on the sleeves to give myself more ease because they were close to being too tight. Rayon fabric has more give, and with the shortened sleeve I had way bigger openings than I wanted. I had to take the sleeves apart and resew them three times before I got what I wanted (it’s hard to shorten sleeves when there are four pattern pieces involved!).

The finished sleeve opening ended up being just about the same size as the pattern calls for, which I achieved by sewing them about an inch smaller at the underarm seam, then trimming and binding the new seams. Then, I was able to use my original cuff pattern pieces.

I lined half of each button placket piece lengthwise with interfacing to cut down on bulk (the pattern calls for the whole pattern piece to be interfaced.) On the inside, I hand sewed a little piece of bias tape around the bit at the bottom of the placket so I wouldn’t have any raw edges. It ended up being a little bulky but the bulk isn’t visible from the outside and looks neat. If I did it again I might use a lighter weight substrate like Snug Hug seam binding tape.I found my buttons at a big box store pre-pandemic, and they are fake metal (I had to sand off a sharp bit and found plastic under the bronze paint). On my muslin, I didn’t put a button on the collar. For this one, I made the collar 1/2 an inch taller and put that top button on. I’ll probably never use it, but I like how it looks.

I used my sewing machine’s buttonhole tool, and like always, the most obvious buttonhole, the top one, ended up being the ugliest one. I’ve been doing buttons and buttonholes for less than a year, and it’s still a skill that eludes me. It doesn’t seem to matter if I check the bobbin thread first, or do a test buttonhole. Some of the buttonholes are perfect, and some are garbage. It seems like hand finished buttonholes might turn out better, but I didn’t have the patience for that this go-around.

For my side seams, I used Snug Hug seam binding tape to enclose the raw edges. For the rest of the inside finishing, I practiced my hand sewing technique.

Like with my last version of the shirt, I had some trouble getting the top stitching to catch the collar all the way around. To make things worse, rayon is wonky to cut. I was trying to avoid having to patch together the inside collar piece, so I used a collar piece that had come out a little short and wobbly along the bottom edge, making it tougher to finish nicely. I whipped the cuffs in by hand, and handsewed the hem with a split finish at the side seams. Rayon is known for weird hems if you don’t leave the fabric to hang for a day before sewing the hem. I did not leave mine to hang, and it shows to the critical eye. I don’t know yet if I care enough to fix it. Like with my last Seamwork Jo, I used an inverted box pleat rather than gathers in the back. I like how it looks, but next time I might play around with how much ease I remove from the back of the shirt instead of taking the full two inches top to bottom. It fits fine, but I might want a little ease back at the hem for flow.

The box pleat looks even from the back, but if you hold it up to the light, it’s lopsided. I think the solution to this is not holding the shirt up to the light again. Not sure what happened there, but I’m blaming the rayon.

For my yoke, I used an olive cotton batiste for the inside of the shirt. I love the flowy hand of rayon, but the texture is kind of gross. I wanted a light, natural fiber for the inside yoke. The rayon yoke piece ended up being slightly larger than the cotton one. I made a tiny pleat by where the back piece meets the yoke and did the top stitching over it, and you can’t tell. It was worth the trouble, and the colors of the batik next to the olive fabric (although no one sees it but me) are really pretty.

I love the way the shirt turned out in rayon, but the temperature in New York will have to dip another ten degrees before I can bear to wear it. I might make one more in a cotton or lightweight linen, but I would be satisfied if this were my last effort. It has lots of personal details and the fabric is muted but beautiful.

You can see my wearable muslin of this pattern here, and my Seamwork Jo kid hack here.

My camera got stuck in lockdown purgatory. We are still trying to remember how to use it. Four different times, I brought one of my kids outside and asked them to take photos of me wearing this shirt. The very last time, I had all but given up on getting anything in focus, and just left all the layers and accessories I had on from a different outfit I’d been wearing all day. The kids were like, YOU LOOK GREAT. WE LOVE ALL THE COLOR. And those were the photos that came out.

You can learn more about the green batik shorts here. And here is the black metamorphic dress I wore under the top in the back view photo.