Making the Shirt from Couture Zéro Chutes
Late last year I reviewed the book Couture Zéro Chutes by Charline Durpoix and Mylène L’Orguilloux. The title translates as Sewing Zero Waste, and it’s a collection of six base patterns with many options for combining or modifying them.
As part of the review, I sewed the elastic waist trousers. They were really great, and I had short length of fabric left which I decided to use for a matching short sleeved shirt.
I was somewhat enamoured with the idea of a two-piece jumpsuit, shown in the book in orange and blue.
The shirt is essentially a square-cut shirt, with the body having straight armholes. As the pattern pieces are modular, the shirt can be colour blocked like this lilac and blue one.
I cut out the pieces last year after finishing the trousers, and left them neatly folded together over Christmas and New Year.
In the name of squeezing it out of the remaining fabric, I cut it 5cm shorter and with a regular (rather than concealed) front band. Maybe I wouldn’t have needed to do this if I hadn’t accidentally cut two sets of sleeves…
The non-concealed front band is okay though, because I have THE perfect buttons to show off on it. They are mother of pearl buttons, a gift from my sister who went to Broome on holidays. Broome is located in north-west Australia, and has a long pearl industry history.
As with the trousers, the shirt’s instructions are designed to give you a very neat finish inside and out. The shirt has some lovely subtle design details…
Things are coming along very nicely. I’m currently about half way through the sewing, with the collar, hem and buttons to still to do.
To be continued next week…
oh well now I’m tempted to buy this book, which is not good! I am loving your shirt in progress.
Cheers, Sue. I think you would like everything in this book.
Oh, that color block outfit in the picture is absolutely gorgeous! I think I want to do that now, get a couple complimentary fabrics and make several shirts and pants mixing and matching which colors go where. I had a similar idea a few years back that I never actually followed through and made, but I like the way this one looks better.
How easy do you think it would be to extend the sleeves on the shirt? The cap sleeves are cute, but I tend to prefer mine longer.
This book is on my wishlist now! I’ll probably get it for myself as a treat sometime soon. I’ll need to translate, as I don’t speak French, but as you said, translation software will do a good enough job to convey a general understanding at least!
We all liked the colour blocked one too. The book has instructions for long sleeves with a cuff and placket using some extra pattern pieces. The man in blue is wearing the long sleeved version. There’s also instructions for turning it into a shirt dress – the lady on the cover in the the green checked dress is wearing it.