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I have now made the Libby shirt several times and am also ‘in love’ with the Cobra Corsage print design by Lady McElroy.

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However, so far, I have only liked the print on a Cotton Lawn substrate. I have been disappointed in the quality and performance of the crepe jersey and the stretch twill in the Black background colourway that I used for a pinafore dress attracts fluff and ‘bits’ like a magnet!

I bought 2 metres of the Vanilla background cotton lawn from Sherwoods at a total cost of £32.79, back in February 2020 and have only now (inspired by Alex Judge on youtube) to cut into this precious fabric.

I was very undecided what to make but have finally bitten the bullet and cut the Libby shirt by Sew Over It. This time I was reminded by Alex to concentrate on pattern matching, thus avoiding repeats of the large main design motifs ‘marching’ across the front of the shirt. Although I took care to match up the centre front of the design for the front pattern pieces it has not worked, in any event at least I have avoided large motifs on the apex of my bust!

To ensure that the points of the collar had motifs on them, I cut the collar (both top and undercollar) in 2 parts so they have a centre back seam.

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I had hoped to do the same for the lapels but unfortunately it did not quite work out. I therefore had to patch in a motif for the right lapel and am pretty pleased with the result.

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The bodice pieces, yoke and sleeve cuffs were extended by ½ inch so that the ‘grown-on’ sleeves would be just a little bit longer. I also extended the length of the back bodice by 4 inches and the front bodice (and facings) by 5 inches whilst retaining the curve so that the hemline would be relatively level front and back without having to make a full bust adjustment.

Once again the collar and stand were fiddly and time-consuming but the effort has been worthwhile. I did go ‘off plan’ when it came to stitching the side seams by first separating the allowances of the cuff before overlocking the entire seam allowances. I am pleased with how that has turned out.

As mentioned by Alex, the grown-on sleeves do have a tendency to stick out and whilst I can live with this, I think that I will hack the pattern to have set-in sleeves for the next iteration.

Finally it came to the hem which was overlocked before turning twice and machine stitching in place before making a decision about buttons and buttonholes……I stitched the buttonholes with the same White thread that I had used in construction but could not find any matching Ivory buttons in my stash. My husband suggested picking a colour from the prints. I decided on these pretty textured Greeny/Teal-coloured buttons (the same as those used on the previous Libby shirt) and I think they work well.

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Conclusion: Whilst I love the print design of Cobra Corsage in this Libby shirt iteration, I have yet to find a substrate that I am really happy with. I do find the cotton lawn particularly fine and although it presses well, as soon as you wear the garment it also creases a great deal.

Project #37 completed 7^th May 2021