Thursday, 10 May 2024

Merchant and Mill's The Ellsworth

In the past few months I worked on only one or two projects. I've been busy moving house. I've lived in Den Haag for most of my life but since May 9th Rotterdam is my new home, and even though Rotterdam is very close and I know it well moving there still felt like that moment before diving in really cold water, this strange mix of anxiety, fear and excitement.

In between work trips, packing and preparing for the move I did not feel like I had the space to get out my sewing machine and make a mess. I think in my head I was already saying goodbye to my sewing space and the way I'd work whilst being there. How I had to walk from the dinner table where I used to sew to the ironing board in my kitchen to press open seams, or how I had to crawl on the floor of my living room whilst drawing patterns or cutting cloth. The proces of making something was not just contained to one spot but an activity that happened in my whole house in which most of my furniture, floors and walls participated. In the house I now share with Ben the plan is to have one room dedicated to working where all our making can take place. I'm looking forward to getting my sewing machine out of its moving box, to find my collection of threads, my scissors and other tools, and to give them a permanent place. I think it will take a while to figure out how to work in this new space, to decide what to do where but it will be worth it.

It's been some time but I think I started working on this shirt in the beginning of March. I've worked with this pattern before, but wanted to make another shirt that was a bit smaller. I bought the fabric for it 2 years ago knowing this is what I wanted to make with it, but I only got around to it just now.

The Ellsworth

The shirt is designed as one piece with no separate sleeves, because the shirt is so wide the sleeves should hit just past your elbow. But due to the total width of my fabric (115cm) my sleeves ended up too short. After I'd 'finished' it it hang dormant in my closet for a few weeks until I figured out how I wanted to solve this. In the end I chose to cut off part of the sleeve and attach new ones with the stripes in a different direction. I actually like this better than the actual design and it resembles another stripey shirt I have that I talked about back in January. I always wanted to recreate that shirt and it feels like I've come a step closer now.

I'm insanely proud of the button placket and how the stripes continue uninterrupted throughout