Simplicity 5194 - Shirt

This is an OOP, from 2004 but I got it from the thrift store for 69 cents, so I couldn't beat that. I went with view A, that had the longer sleeves and the regular bottom. The design was cute, and has a V neck that isn't too low.

I ended up making 3 different muslins trying to get the right fit. I did an FBA and the front fit ok, but the sleeves, where it meets the bodice and back around the bust area was very tight and the sleeve cap seam was too far away from where it needed to be. I couldn't move my arm forward or back without a terrible pull. I had a hell of a time trying to figure out what to do.

I ended up using a slope shoulder adjustment and adding to the areas where it pulled. That meant that the whole arm area needed to be redrawn. To add to that, I originally had made an adjustment on the sleeve and facing because my arms are fat and probably wouldn't have even fit in the original sleeve. That meant that I had to re-do the sleeve cap too, which too a lot of fiddling and trimming off. I also added to the length. All in all, a kind of frustrating fitting for this pattern, but it ended up coming out ok.

As you can see on the right arm (your left in the photo) it still pulls some when I reach back. But, once I got to this point I quit. I ran out of patience. But, it's not too bad. I have some RTW shirts that have a pull like that, and I guess it's expected in more fitted shirts (and with a full bust).

The fabric is some kind of poly I think. I got it at a going out of business sale at a Joanns for a dollar a yard. It is very silky feeling and is so drapey it's limp.

I did have to add a snap to the top of the button/button loop area because in my alterations, somewhere along the line, the facing for the neckline and along the front of the shirt got skewed and my dots weren't in the right place. I had to wing it on collar placement and it ended up being a little off, so then I had to re-do the buttons so that it wouldn't sit skewed. That gave me too much room at the very top, so if I didn't want the front to gape open a bit, I needed a snap.