Kalle Shirt – Closet Case Patterns | Wearable Toile

Hi everyone, hope you’re all enjoying your weekend. Today’s post is going to be rather short and sweet, I’m afraid. I am currently in the middle of packing and getting ready for our short break to York, but I did manage to do a bit of sewing this past week.

So what did I make? Well, only the shirt I had been dreaming about for months! Yes, months! This shirt…  oooh I think everyone and their mother have made it. Yep, I’m talking about the Kalle shirt/dress from Closet Case Patterns. When the pattern was first released I was not really into it. I thought all the views look too “out there” and I just wanted to sew “normal” or low-key pieces. But as we all know, tastes change. So has mine.

This version I have just finished is actually a wearable toile. I’d never sewn a pattern with a bodice from CCP before, so I didn’t know what to expect in terms of bust fitting, shoulder seams, etc. But because I bought 4m of this beautiful fabric from Abakhan, I thought might as well make it a wearable toile.

The “real” Kalle is going to be made out of this gorgeous fabric I bought back in October. It’s been sitting in my stash because I was waiting for the perfect pattern for it. And now I have found it, yaaaay! This fabric is 100% viscose (gorgeous drape!) from See You at Six called Dandelions. I think it is no longer available anywhere, so yeah, the pressure for me to find the perfect pattern was even bigger. I am planning to make the dress version (View C) but I kinda want to do the partial button placket. We’ll see. I’ll start working on this project when I get back next week. In the meanwhile, let’s talk about this toile version!

As this is a toile, I decided to go with view A (smallest amount of fabric needed to make it wearable), with absolutely nothing changed – though I didn’t go with the instructions 100% as I have my own preferred methods for some parts of the sewing. I am not going to go into too much detail here because I am planning to do a proper review once I’ve made the dress with my “real” fabric. Stay tuned. 😉

The fabric for my wearable toile is said to be cotton lawn, but it feels stiffer than a regular lawn to me. It feels more like a poplin, almost as stiff as quilting cotton in fact. It also creases like nobody’s business! But it is 150cm wide. This stiff trait of the fabric made it difficult for me to sew perfectly smooth collar band, so on the inside collar I ended up with a little tuck. But it’s on the inside, so… Also, this fabric being stiff means my shirt has got a bit more structure. Which I somehow like.  I tried the shirt on and the stiff cotton didn’t feel too weird or uncomfortable. I’m really happy with this. The fit is great too! Straight out of the bag, no adjustments needed, yaaay!As for styling, I have tried it on paired with my Dawn jeans… OMG! It’s like they were a match made in heaven!!! The high waist of Dawn really complements the cropped and staggered hem of Kalle. Oh I looove this pairing. Obviously, to me, it only means one thing: I have got to make more Dawn jeans and Kalle shirt!

As I mentioned above, I’ll be working on the Kalle dress next, and I also have a queue of exciting sewing projects going on. I’m really looking forward to working on my July projects! Have you got your July sewing planned yet?

So that’s all from me today. I hope you have a nice Sunday and week ahead. See you again soon. Happy stitching.

Faye

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