Wearing My Heart on My Sleeve

And on My Back, My Front and My Collar.

Regular readers of this blog will remember that when Mrs. DTFM and I moved to South Carolina in 2016, I donated quite a bit of clothing that no longer fit me, including some holiday shirts. There were two Valentine shirts in that donation, leaving me without a Valentine shirt. (How could I have known then that I would lose enough weight in 2017 that those shirts would now fit me??)

Filling the void, I recently added a new Valentine shirt to my collection, using a piece of fabric with a Parisian flair from Hobby Lobby. (Slowly I am losing my long-held JOANN-employee-oriented hesitation about shopping at Hobby Lobby and Michaels, which are JOANN competitors but Springs Creative customers.)

Selecting a Shirt Fabric

I consider several criteria when choosing a shirt fabric; some designs work better than others.

• Scale: the design should not be too large so that the print is recognizable if cut up.

• Color: must represent the holiday, but not be too red...I don't like wearing red very much

• Orientation: directional prints seem to work better, but a "tossed" or multi-directional print can work, depending on the scale

The fabric I used in the new Valentine shirt is a medium scale, pale-pinkish Kate Ward Thacker directional print that lends itself well to making a shirt...it's not too "cute."

Ready-made Valentine Shirts

Being curious, I wondered what shirts with hearts might be available in ready-to-wear. There are LOTS of t-shirts out there, but I was more interested in button-up shirts, and there are not too many of those out there.

I like the smaller-heart prints best, but I was too late this year to have much of a fabric selection available. Perhaps I'll add another Valentine shirt next year, and pick up the fabric in early December when the selection is new.

Until next time, keep those sewing machines humming, and perhaps sew up something for your Valentine!

DTFM

danthefabricman@yahoo.com