I signed up for another sewing pattern test for Alice and Co patterns last autumn. Alice and Co have a nice selection of patterns that you could make a decent capsule from. Their patterns are more suitable for Beginners or Intermediate sewists and upwards with basic details and not many really complicated techniques. I tested (but apparently never blogged) the Adele apron dress last year and I’ve now signed up for the Deauville shirt.

Deauville is a tunic style top with a shirt neck and yoke detail. It has straight sleeves which are intended to be turned up and a straight body but there were instructions for this to be widened at the hip to allow extra room there. Sizing is still limited, only going up to a 125cm/49″ bust so that could be improved. The key feature behind the Deauville shirt is that it’s intended to be gender inclusive, an idea that intrigued me and so I decided to join in with the test by making one for myself and my partner.

Construction is fairly straightforward but it does have one technique that took a little bit of thought. The shirt has a yoke that is self-lined and a convertible collar built into it. The collar and neck openings are constructed first then built into the yoke. This is what was a bit tricky at first but taken carefully it does work well. However, after this construction, I opted against buttons as I didn’t want the further complication of sewing buttonholes in the yoke.

I completed Gary’s shirt in a sweater knit that I bought from Minerva. It gives a nice casual effect and was nice and warm for autumn-winter when I sewed this.

For my version, I decided to use a woven fabric that I had in the stash from last year. I think it came from Fabric Guys. This Poly Satin has a vibrant blue-green-yellow striped colour scheme and the finished version gives a smarter look could be workwear or for going out.

Both versions of the shirt work well and as is his way, he has worn this lots since I made it. It’s versatile and works in a variety of fabrics and a fun fact I found out when making these is that we are both the same size.

I saw a lot of interesting versions made by other testers including a fabulous looking dress hack that I like the look of and might try something like that for summer.

Thanks for dropping by