I was out and about a lot recently, mainly to visit the Liberty store in London. Yes! The sale has started and I made a beeline for the fabrics department on the 4th floor to snap up some fabrics. I have learnt from my past experience that there is an art to buying Liberty fabrics, but the main rule is never give up on your first visit. Different fabric designs are added daily to the pile of fabrics on sale and on some occasion, you will find fabrics that you never seen in the Liberty catalogue.
On this occasion, I bought several pieces of fabric but one of them is this interesting ‘kissing’ couple print. Printed on a repeat, this print captivated me the moment I pulled it out from the pile of fabrics. Although there was only a metre of this fabric left, I thought it would be perfect as a short sleeve shirt.
I find that the more patterns I make and the more sewing I do, I get a bit more pedantic. I am always looking at the details and if I have enough fabric to match the print at the centre front, I will always do it. I look at the shirts sold in the shops a lot and I feel that there is no love that goes into it. It is hastily cut, roughly sewn and as a result, looks and feels cheap.
I love it when I see shirts that match up on the centre front and prints are smooth and consistent all the way around the garment. This is a sign that someone has paid attention to the details and a lot of effort was put into the garment. But I also do understand situations when prints are difficult to match up and in this case, the prints should not match at all. It’s either you match them up perfectly or not at all.
There is always the moment when you check and check the print and pattern to make sure they are perfect. You then proceed to cut the fabric and align them again to check but in a sudden ditzy moment, you misaligned it wrong and your heart drops thinking you have actually done it wrong. But you take a deep breath, check again and it’s actually correct. It is a scary feeling but it actually means that you are AWAKE!
I can’t wait to wear this shirt out but as usual, the sun is not co-operating! Until then, I have another project to make. At least if summer eventually arrives, I am all ready!
Stephen Yong 
Absolutely amazing. Love your attention to detail. Nice story as well. Keep up the phenomenal work. Xx
Thank you! Your encouragement will only spur me on to make more! That’s till I run out of fabrics. Lol!
Do you have a pattern for this kind of shirt? I love your work, by the way.
Thanks for your support. This is just a basic shirt pattern that you can buy from the haberdashery shop or you can trace it from a shirt you like. I draw my own patterns to fit me but unfortunately, I do not provide patterns.