Are five white shirts too many? Never!

As I said in the last post - for me, this is a most timely initiative, and the little white shirt button at left will take you to Barbara's "sewing on the edge" blog, where you'll have the opportunity to admire other sewists' pristine creations.

I have the following :  midweight textured linen, lightweight textured linen, lightweight smooth linen in cream (not white), a midweight crinkle cotton, and a floaty striped cotton voile.  Three of them will definitely become shirts, but the two midweight fabrics might turn into something a little more jackety - we'll see.

As to patterns:

One will definitely be the Vogue 1054 Chado Ralph Rucci overshirt.  I wrote the review for it a year ago, and it's still languishing in private mode, because I haven't yet photographed the shirt nor the shirtdress that I based on the same pattern.  Interestingly, though the shirt is a bit too casual, I wear the dress all the time - it's a classic, a dark grey self-patterned silk wool, perfect for work, perfect for accessorizing in any colour of the rainbow, and it garners lots of positive attention.  So, when I tear myself away from my sewing machine, finishing that review will move from my to-do to the done list.  That's the plan.

The second pattern I'm interested in is the blouse made by Terri, a very talented theatrical costume tailor who writes A Tailor Made It.  Her creations are fascinating, and they're usually for men, so a simple white lady's blouse coming from her is a unique treat. I'd have to adapt a simple darted bodice pattern to one with curves, but it should be doable, as she posted both the original German draft and her own pattern pieces.  New Look 6598 has similar bones: a cut-on collar and vertical front & back darts, so I'll start with that.

Thirdly, a crisp white blouse  made its debut within the last few days at Handmade by Carolyn.  It's a Burda pattern, with a charming curve to the fronts, and sashes for tying.  Beautifully feminine.

Fourthly, Irene, who started her Irene's Studio blog only this month, posted a perfect classic white blouse: bust plus vertical front & back darts - just last week.   Not only that, but she gave a few tips on how to slash-and-shrink as opposed to slash-and-spread; nice & useful for the skinny minnies among us.  Go over and visit her - up for barely three weeks and she's posted some luverly stuff already.

I'm sure there are plenty more white blouses out there in blogland - why not make your own linked list? 

In fact, let me just add a link to Les Merveilleuses - a for-ladies section of the Cutter and Tailor forum.  Not just about shirts, but some of the retro topics do include scans of various 20th C pattern magazines, if nothing else, to inspire us to maybe think of a different white blouse.  Later! right now I have to return to those four waistbands.  The clock's aticking!