Getting Back to McCalls 4922

Last October I wrote a post on how I was going to make McCalls 4922. And here it is, about 4 1/2 months later, and I'm finally talking about the finished garment. I'm so woefully behind on pattern reviews! Here's the pattern:

It's a perfect pattern for a princess-seamed blouse that works for our school's uniform policy. I made the shirt to fit me and DD#2. She liked this blouse, but decided she didn't want it because...it was white and she didn't want a white blouse. This just adds to my frustration of sewing for her. I still have to review this blouse and a Burda blouse which I also made for her but ended up in my closet. She's always nit-picky about things.

Her Burda complaint was valid because the sleeves were too short. It was the first time I ever used Burda WOF and pretty much made it as-is to check the sizing. A little snug in my bust (but not hers), and the sleeves were definitely too short. A little snug in the upper back, needed a forward shoulder and sleeve adjustment, you know, the same things needed in a Big 4 pattern for me. And the cotton shirting fabric for the Burda style was simply too stiff. The fabric used for it has to have more drape.

Anyway...back to McCall's 4922. Here is how it ended up:

I really like this blouse so I'm glad she didn't like the color white :) . I used a 10 at the neck and shoulders and morphed to the 14 from upper bust down. I love the blended sizes because I end up not having to do an FBA. Sometimes I might need to create an armhole dart if there's not enough shaping and transfer it elsewhere, but not so with this pattern.

The styling change I made on the pattern was to create bust gathers near the bust area of the buttoned front placket shown below:

Here is the styling change on the blouse closeup below:

DD#2 and I saw this detailing in lots of RTW blouses and she liked this. So I slashed/spread the CF pattern piece to create the gathers. I think maybe an 1/2" more of gathers would be even nicer. We'll see the next time I make this blouse. My alterations to this pattern included:

1. 1/4" narrow shoulder


2. 1/2" added sleeve length


3. 1/2" added hem length


4. removed 1/4" front sleeve ease

Really, very minor alterations, essentially just tweaks. The fit of this blouse is really superb, my only wishes for this blouse was it could be longer and made out of a fabric with more drape. The 100% cotton shirting fabric is fine, but it wrinkles like crazy and is kind of stiff. My wardrobe really needs a long white blouse that can be belted. It was made to the hem length of the school's policy because it was supposed to be for DD#2, and I prefer curved hemlines because I think it's more flattering on my figure. I love, love, LOVE the sleeve options: 3/4 length or full length. I prefer 3/4 ones because I'm a SAHM and working at the kitchen sink often leaves me with wet sleeve hems with long sleeves.

Here's the back. The wrinkles are because I'm twisting around to take the pic. It is actually very smooth with no swayback "puddling".

Here's a pic that show a different perspective and proportion:

In the next few days I'll try to review this blouse at PR. But my assessment of this pattern is that it is a winner, a must-have pattern. It's so versatile and different fabrics will really change the look of the blouse.

School Uniforms and McCall's 4922.

Life with a dress code policy. Fine for a job, but a pain-in-the-you-know-what for parents like me in a public school district that just went to a standardized dress code (technically--UNIFORMS!). Although the claim can be made that uniforms save money in the long run, for me it has been a huge monetary investment since my four kids needed entirely brand new wardrobes. I've probably already spent at least $1,000 on back to school clothes with another $500 to be spent on winter attire that meets the school code standards.

A true uniform, IMO, would be much easier. Instead, we have choices. For pants, Docker style navy blue, black, or khaki/stone colored pants. Shorts and skirts are to be the same colors and must come down to the knee cap. Tops have to have buttons up to the neck (one unbuttoned is okay) in oxford style (girls tops can be a little fancy with gathered sleeves, front pleats, etc., but must be in the full button down style of an oxford WITH a collar). Tops can be white, grey, any shade of blue, or black. Same color tops and bottoms cannot be worn, for example, black shirt with black pants. AND absolutely NO logos or symbols of any type.

Kids have been sent to ISS for tops with no collars, pants with rivets, pants with more than 4 pockets, pockets below the hipline, shirts that don't have buttons up to the neck, skirts that are too short, etc., from Day 1. That includes Kindergarten students too. I think there were something like 2 full rooms of In-School Suspension kids for failure to follow the dress code to a T the first day of school, and that was just at the Intermediate school (grades 5-7).

Unfortunately for me, our "standardized dress code" has too many choices which means more money. The boys are easy, they're young and not picky. A plain 'ol polo in any color will do them just fine. They're not particular about their pants either. Girls, on the other hand, need "fancy" style oxford blouses. Princess seaming, tucks, gathered sleeves, and ruffled fronts in the broad array of "acceptable" colors which includes ANY shade of blue. Skirts with fancy seaming and detailing is a big thing. It would be SO much easier if the uniform was like a Catholic school uniform. One color/style blouse, one style/color dress.

Choices may be nice for the kids, but the bottom line is that choices mean more money for the parents. And I haven't even gotten to shoes. They must be in a predominate color of black or white. No fancy colors or stripes. That's really hard too. I like my kids to have good footwear with good support, but find myself shopping at Walmart for cheap, plain color sneakers and shoes. DD#2's cheapo shoes I bought at Payless were killing her feet. The Dr. Scholl's insoles helped, but I may have to go the route of $60 or $70 Naturalizers. It was far easier when my sporty girl simply needed one pair of shoes--her top-quality sneakers for almost the year.

So where does this lead up to? McCall's 4922.

A princess seamed blouse with several variations. That's what I'm working on right now for DD#2. I made a design modification which is one of 3 design sketches I drew on paper which deviate a bit from the standard, classic button-down oxford shirt style.

Detailed info on that is in my next blog post.