Button Down Battle #2

Remember the first button down make in this battle? Yeah — it took me this long to make the next one.

Oh, and Happy Sewing Month.

Let’s first get over the how-does-it-fit hurdle and then move to the details. Lets compare the fit of upper chest and armhole/sleeve area. The Amy Butler Liverpool Shirt (#1) is much more roomy in the upper chest/armhole/sleeve than the Butterick Pattern (#2) designed by Katherine Tilton. The same size 16 shoulders have a different outcome in each. The Liverpool is not bad looking, just roomier than the Butterick pattern.

#1 The Liverpool by Amy Butler

#2 Butterick Patterns by Katherine Tilton

Too long? Should I raise the hem?
Pintucks in the striped version would skew the stripes, right? The photo shows them completely straight. Hmmm.

To get a smooth fit, I normally veer from size 16 at the shoulders, towards size 18 at the bust and 20 as i go down to the waist and hip. That makes the shirt skim over my mature, pear shape.

Details

Both patterns have 3/4 sleeve lengths. The Liverpool sleeves have a band which I made in a contrast print, while the Butterick used 3 pintucks to narrow down the sleeve hem. Lovely, no?

The dart detail in the Liverpool is regular waist and bust darts to give shape. The Butterick darts are created by nothing less than dart manipulation! I love me some dart trickery. The regulation waist and bust darts are pivoted and transformed into 3 pintucks at the shoulder and 5 pintucks at the waist, fanning out to accommodate the body curves, and to accommodate a design aesthetic.

Shoulder pintucks

Down to sewing the pintucks; easy enough, right? The instruction sheet instructs a take up of 1/6th inch at the fold — as narrow as it can get. However, since they fan out, some of them land on the bias grain. And — the bias grain did its dirty work and ended up with somewhat stretchy, wavy pintucks. Sure, pressing took some of the stretch out, but not really. Anyone have ideas for preventing this?

Waist pintucks

The fabric is a lightweight linen (just short of being called a handkerchief linen) in a soft pistachio green interwoven with white. I love the color! Since everything is from Deep Stash, the buttons are a bit mismatched but I like the look.

So, I like both these button downs and have been wearing them a lot. The next shirt designated as #3 has already been tested twice and loved just as much, but what’s stopping me from making it again?

Nothing. Later, friends.

Samina

4 thoughts on “Button Down Battle #2”

  1. I like the Butterick shirt. I highly doubt the bit of waviness in the pintucks will be noticeable when worn what with moving around and all. The only suggestions I have on the pintucks is to use wash-away stabilizer or starch, that way no tugging to remove the stabilizer. Or maybe use painter’s tape right next to each side of the pintuck seam, that might be enough to keep the weave in place while stitching.

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  2. Love the Butterick pattern and the length you added. The fancy darts are great. You look wonderful in the pistachio color. I think I have this pattern, never used. Will locate it and match it up with some fabric. You’ve provided the inspiration.

    Lenora

    Sent from my Galaxy

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  3. Love the Butterick shirt. I wonder if marking the darts on the fabric, then stretching and pressing the fabric a bit in the dart area before stitching the darts, would prevent problems. If you stretched and pressed too much, darts would be wavy but a little bit might help. If you used light-weight thread and spritzed with water, you might be able to press the fabric back to original dimensions.

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