Bonn Fever

I've been sewing a ton the last couple of weeks in preparation for our upcoming annual beach vacation.  I've made four men's short-sleeve button-down shirts,  two girls' dresses andthree swim suits with another in progress.  But I haven't had time to get any decent pictures.  I'm hoping to remedy that with the ocean and the sand dunes as my backdrop. For now, I leave you with an overdue post about my latest Bonn Shirt (affiliate link), sewn back in May.

So it's official, I have Bonn fever.  I haven't had any good button-down shirts in my wardrobe since I got pregnant with Niko and outgrew the Lisette Travelers I made in 2014.  I'm rapidly filling those holes, and now I present Bonn #3!

I should note here that I tried to photograph this shirt a number of times during an overcast spring.  I still haven't found a good spot for photos in or around the new house, so here's a bunch of blurry images featuring a wrinkled shirt that I refuse to iron it single time I try to photograph it.  And also I wore it a lot before it got too hot.

I made this one in the long-sleeved view.  I think I will probably make them all long-sleeved from now on.  I like a full-length sleeve in chilly weather, and when it's not so cold, I just roll them up, so this will make them more versatile.  The sleeves did end up a bit short so I will need to lengthen it about 1.5" on my pattern piece.

Again I sewed a 10DD graded to a 12 at the waist and a 14 at the hip.  It fits well, though I think if I ever make this as a dress or a tunic (which I am planning to do), I should probably grade out to the 16 hip if not the 18, as I think the 14 will be too tight if I continue it all the way down.

Like on my second Bonn, my bust darts are an inch lower and an inch shorter, the shirt is lengthened 1.5" and there is a 5/8" forward shoulder adjustment.  This time I also deepened the V in front by 1".  I forgot to do this on the pattern, so it was an afterthought alteration after my pattern pieces had already been cut.  I need to redraft my pattern to include this change.  I am forever lowering necklines as I usually find a lower neckline to be more flattering on my large bust - it seems to have a minimizing effect.

The sleeves are pleated to fit them into the cuff.  I didn't read the instructions carefully enough, and I stitched my pleats closed rather than basting them.  It doesn't really matter, though, given my predilection for rolled up sleeves.

I am scratching my head a little on the forward shoulder adjustment.  I've read a number of different tutorials on the forward shoulder, and I see two different methods - the first calls for shortening the front shoulder all the way across, and adding back to the entirety of the back shoulder.  The second method, which is the one I use, calls for subtracting from the front outer shoulder edge only, leaving the neck edge as is, and drawing a diagonal line between the two.  I use this method because it makes sense to me that only my outer shoulders are forward - the part attached to my neck can't really migrate forward because it is attached to my neck.  But maybe I need to do it the other way, because the adjustment I made hasn't totally worked on this shirt - it still migrates backwards.

I didn't mention hemming in my other two Bonn posts, but I had quite a difficult time making the small hem on the curved shirttail.  I ended up with a flippy hem on the linen one even after I redid it.  This time I used a triple-stitch method that now I can't locate to link for you, and it was better, although I still find that the hem flips up after I wash it.  It's really annoying, but I have had RTW shirts do that too.  Does anyone have any tips there?

As it's summer now, I haven't worn the shirt much lately.  But I'll be pulling it back out for heavy rotation later this fall, and I even have this fabric stashed away in the black/gray/white color (100% cotton shirting, from Walmart of all places!) to make another one.  It's definitely a winner.

Thanks for reading, and see you next time!