Free Reign With Liberty — Butterick 6521

Free Reign With Liberty — Butterick 6521 - Marcy Tilton Fabrics
The feel of silk with the breath of cotton —much to love — that’s Liberty Tana Lawn for you. Plus a myriad of colors and patterns to choose from. I love my jeans (or black pants for a little dress-up) so blue is always a good choice for me, especially if there’s a little black thrown in. I chose 4 Liberty fabrics — Felicity, Emily, Carlisle and Portsmouth Liberty Cotton Woven and used one yard of each (2 units).



Butterick 6521 shirt/jacket pattern works really well when you want to combine fabrics as it has enough pattern pieces to keep things interesting along with a feminine fit and lovely collar to frame the face. No matter how many times I make a shirt/jacket using B6521 I get compliments. I always make the longer version B as that works best with my height. A shorter version A is also in the pattern.



Sometimes a challenge — but always fun — to combine different fabric prints in a piece. This one went smoothly once I decided which fabric to put on the right top front. Portsmouth was the correct choice. Plus it worked perfectly later (synchronicity!) when I discovered in my stash the rectangular blue buttons which matched color wise and repeated the geometric in the fabric.




Colors which worked together was my first parameter of choice and the bold loose floral print in Felicity with its pop of pink proved the perfect foil for Portsmouth’s geometry and the small clustered flowers in Emily, while the collaged appeal of Carlisle with its hit of yellow and fave dots and stripes added the perfect variation.


Creative choices:

  • Style - B6521
  • Colors - blues, with a bit of black being a bonus
  • Print - related but not identical
  • Placement - start with what goes by the face, the top right side and top left side and work from there.

Procedure:

  • Tape or pin small swatches of the fabric chosen to each pattern piece.
  • Sort the pattern pieces according to fabric print chosen.
  • Lay out and then cut out each pattern piece in its designated print.
  • Reassemble the pattern pieces.
  • Interface front facings and all collar pieces.
  • Sew the garment.
  • Install buttonholes and buttons.

Notes:

  • I usually wait to cut the collar pieces until the body of the shirt/jacket is sewn together. This makes it easier to visualize which fabrics I might want on the top or bottom of the collar pieces.
  • I do the same with the fold back cuff I’ve started using on all my shirt/jackets.
  • When using this B6251 pattern I must admit to playing fast and loose with the grain lines. It becomes all about the design I want. So far, with stable woven fabrics I have lucked out when using small pieces cut on the bias. You might want to experiment first and see how you feel about it.




  |  

More Posts