Such a good thing when the fabric tells you what it wants. American Beauty Italian Cotton Woven did that even before I decided I wanted to use it for a shirt. So many design possibilities, so much fun to play with. Three different stripes arriving from three different angles in three different colors along with that beautiful bouquet of roses was just too fabulous to miss.

Butterick 6771 is the perfect shirt for color blocking and pattern play. The front has four pattern pieces of varying sizes which works really well for creative play. I’ve made many versions of this pattern and I’m always learning as I go.

We fondly refer to this shirt as The Frenchy Shirt because it evokes men’s shirts seen in Paris that combine different prints while having the dressmaker details seen in women’s blouses from the ’30’s and ‘40s which I saw in Parisian vintage shops.

Nothing says spring like dots or stripes or a fresh cotton shirt. The fashion world is having a love affair with stripes this ...

Fun and easy to sew, my latest Vogue release can be worn as either a shirt or jacket, making it a ‘shacket’. Gwen and I dubbed ...