Marty Shirt – SMF Spring Launch

Hey friends! Today, I’m excited to share my first make for Spring! It’s been a while since I published a new blog post. I had a busy February/March with friends and family visiting, but I’m finally back at it.

This is the Watercolor Floral Digital Linen Blend from Style Maker Fabrics. It’s a blend of linen and rayon, and it was so nice to sew. It feels very luxurious which isn’t a word I would usually use for linen, but the rayon content gives it more drape and softens it up really nicely. This is one of the fabrics included in their Spring Launch, and it comes in a white/lavender colorway as well.

I used white linen bias tape to bind the armhole and vanilla-colored buttons that matched really nicely and don’t distract from the pretty print. This shirt pairs perfectly with my wide leg Free Range Slacks that I made in 2023. The fabric is a Washed Crinkle Cotton in the color Moss, also from Style Maker.

Style Maker recently added PDF Pattern Printing to their shop (YAY!). So, they can now print your patterns for one stop shopping on your way to creating your handmade wardrobe. The price ($3.75/per A0 page) looks pretty on par with what I was paying to print my PDF patterns when I lived in the US too.

I found the perfect tag to match this shirt. It’s the “Happiness is Handmade” label from The Cosy Club Handmade on Etsy. I won their giveaway a few months ago, and I was excited to use one of the labels. I love that a lot of their labels are double-sided so that you can choose the side you like best.

I’ve been saving lots of cool sewing tricks on Pinterest lately, and I saw one that was so clever about how to join two ends of bias tape. So, I tried it when I was sewing the armhole binding, and it worked so perfectly both times! I’ll definitely be doing it that way from now on.

This shirt is the Marty by I AM Patterns (sizes up to 114cm bust & 120cm hips). I AM is a French company, but the pattern is in French and English. The pattern is very versatile with 150 possible variations, so I was really interested in trying it. I figured that if I liked it then it would be a good base for pattern hacks in the future.

This pattern is nice, and the instructions and illustrations were clear and easy to understand. There are a few design details that make it a little bit different than other classic shirt patterns I’ve made in the past, but it’s nice to have something different.

Here are the differences, in case you’re curious: The armholes are cut pretty low and there is quite a bit of ease at the sides. I could have taken the sides in by about 1/2″ and still been comfortable, and that would have raised the armhole a little bit too. The collar stand is tall (I could have taken ~1/4″ off of the base), and the collar is much looser around the neck than a classic button up shirt. Like I said, these are just design differences that I am aware of now in case I decide to make changes in the future.

I lengthened this shirt by 2.5″ and it’s a good length on me (I’m 5’11”). I used self-bias binding on the hem so that I only lost 3/8″ in the length once it was hemmed. The bias binding helped me to easily sew around the curved hem, and it makes the hem hang nicely.

At the end of February, one of my visitors was Michelle (co-owner of Style Maker Fabrics)! I managed their social media account for a while and saw her often when we lived in Washington state, so it was really good to see her and fun to show her around Lisbon. Here’s a picture of us on the day that I showed her around the city of Cascais.

It’s still chilly in Lisbon, but warmer days are ahead, and I’m looking forward to wearing my newest Spring outfit more soon. Thank you for reading my blog today and happy Spring sewing!

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Fabric and notions were given to me by Style Maker Fabrics to help promote the Spring Fabric Launch.