Lisette Traveler Dress

I was browsing the fabric shops on the web one day and came across this chambray which is dotted with little navy birds. I thought it would make a really nice shirt dress so pulled down my Lisette Traveler pattern and my Grainline Alder Shirtdress pattern. Neither of which I have made before but have been meaning to for a while.

The Lisette pattern won purely on the basis of a 'First In First Out' ruling. I am glad I did make this one in the end because it is getting too cool for a sleeveless dress and this will be great over autumn/winter with some warm leggings on underneath.

Although you can't buy the Traveler pattern anymore on the main sites, I am pretty sure it can be tracked down on Ebay. See the original page listing here. It is a fantastic pattern with 3 views. I went for view B which is more of a tunic style shirt. I do like the pretty sleeves on view C, which reminds me of the Deer and Doe Bleuet (but without that great little back bow detail).

I nearly went for a standard collar over the mandarin style, but in the end made it as pattern (something I tend to do when making a pattern for the first time). I think next time I will swop it for the proper collar though.

This may have lingered as an unmade pattern for so long because I assumed it was going to take ages to make. Boy was I wrong! This one was such a pleasure to make. I did the construction in short bursts, mainly because it was still the school holidays and I didn't want to leave the girls to their own devices for too long. Doing it with the pace of a sew a long meant that I took my time and concentrated on each stage, especially making sure my topstitching was nice and straight on my plackets.

The sleeve hem instructions baffled me but with a bit of help from the lovely and reliable sewing gurus on IG I figured it out. It was as simple as going back and unfolding the pattern sheet to find the hem allowance, which I hadn't made a note of earlier when tracing it off. I always miss details like this, so typical of me!

I didn't alter anything about the pattern and didn't blend sizes as my measurements seemed to be quite uniform. Thankfully the length is perfect for me and I really like where the sleeves hit when they are turned back.

I love this shirt and so does hubby, so I have left the pattern out to make again soon. Once I get some clothes in the girls drawers again I should be all set!