CFM - First item

Summer Shirt from Weekend Sewing by Heather Ross.  I've wanted to make this shirt for awhile, although with some reservations because I gather people have had some issues with it. But really, it looks so lovely on this nice lady who could resist?

 Some of the complaints about the pattern have been that that the placket is too long, the sleeves are too long and the body is too short. I thought I'd just leave the placket and sleeves as is - the placket could be sewn up (as indeed the instructions suggest) and sleeves are infinitely hemmable. I added several centimetres to the bottom though (like about 10).

Here I am in mine, looking slightly less adorable and not surrounded by flowers

And I'm really NOT trying to be coy with the camera, do you know how freaking HEAVY a DSLR is to hold at arm's length with one hand, while trying to point vaguely in the direction of yourself? Mat and Hazel had our point and shoot with them while they were away this weekend. I did try to put my face in but they mostly came out like this

Nice shot of the neckline and arm though! The picture looks weird because I have the mirror up on the windowsill and you can see out the window on the left there. :)

So what do I think. Well I think that it's not designed for ladies with larger busts. I'm not huge or anything, but I'm a big C cup and I'd say it's more for the B-cup and below sizes.  I know there is this mysterious thing known as a FBA (full bust adjustment) and I expect it would have helped here, but I have yet to look into it in a practical sense.  Although the top is lovely and airy in voile and I like the long and elegant sleeves and the low placket is all that saves it when you've got a bust (Trinny and Susannah say you must always wear v-necks and it's true!), it's a bit shapeless on the whole. I still like it and I'll wear it, but I'm definitely on the search for a tunic with some shaping. I own a nice one already but I'm not sure how well I could take a pattern off it, it has a lot of pieces and shaping and shirring and I'm not cutting it up!