Taking Liberty (of London)
- fabman556
- Jul 6, 2017
- 2 min read
The Seersucker Suit Project, Part One
The first segment of this project is the Liberty of London cotton print sport shirt. This fabric is a super-fine 100% cotton fabric called "lawn," which is a "plain weave, originally of linen but now chiefly cotton. Lawn is created with fine, high count yarns, which results in a silky, untextured feel." When they say light weight, they mean it. There is very little weight to this shirt, and it will be perfect for summer with the seersucker suit.
I ordered this iconic peacock feather print in 2015 from fabric.com and they have a great selection of Liberty Tana Lawn fabrics. Their selection changes frequently, and their pricing is reasonable for an imported fabric. This is definitely an indulgent fabric.
Liberty designs are classic, and originally were printed on 36" fabric using the original engravings with periodic color updates made to reflect current fashion trends. My first encounter with Liberty fabrics was when I was managing Showcase of Fine Fabrics stores for Fabri-Centers of America (now Jo-Ann Stores) back in the 1980s. We carried the Tana Lawn prints and also a few silk prints. (Thanks for walking down Memory Lane with me.)
Today the classic designs have been re-engraved and, along with some new designs, are printed on 54" fabric. While there are others, most prints are florals or graphics.
Liberty is actually a department store in London with a history dating back to 1875. Read more about the store's heritage here:
Confession: I under-estimated yardage when I ordered the fabric (the original plan was to make a long-sleeved shirt), so the shirt short-sleeved. There are only confetti-like fabric scraps left! I had to use a solid fabric for the back yoke lining and the under collar.
My usual shirt pattern did not have a short-sleeved version, so I traced the paper long-sleeve pattern again on the pattern tracing material and, after measuring the sleeve length of some of my short-sleeved shirts, I created a short-sleeved pattern piece. To keep the collar from becoming overly stiff on this light fabric, I used fusible tricot interfacing.
Tip: Use a size 11 or 9 sharp-point machine needle on a thin or lighter-weight fabric (it makes a smaller hole in the fabric). It's also important to test the thread tension so that the seams do not pucker.
For some additional inspiration from the land of Liberty, check out my Pinterest board at https://www.pinterest.com/dancox556/liberty-of-london/
The fabric sews up well and I'm looking forward to wearing this shirt very soon! (OK, OK, I'll wait until the entire project is finished.)
Next time we'll move on to the Seersucker Suit Project, Part Two: the silk broadcloth shirt. Until then, keep those sewing machines humming!
DTFM
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