French Navy Patterns Belinda Button Up Shirt

It appears that I've been in a shirt making mood of late so, hot on the heels of my recent Belle shirt, here's my version of the French Navy Patterns Belinda Button Up Shirt.

The Belinda Button Up is a long-sleeved shirt with collar and cuff options. View A has a neat, narrow collar and plain cuffs, while view B has a rounded ruffled collar and ruffled sleeve cuffs. Both versions feature a breast pocket. For my Belinda, I used the plain cuffs of view A, the ruffled collar of view B and omitted the breast pocket.

The pattern is sized for bust measurements from 31.5" to 59.5" and hips from 34.5" to 62.5".

As with all collared and cuffed shirt patterns, the Belinda is a slightly involved project that takes a bit of time. I enjoyed working through the steps gradually and didn't find any of the individual processes particularly complicated. The instructions were really good and explained everything with a good level of detail, and they're accompanied by clear diagrams.

Admittedly, I have made a few shirts in the past so there wasn't anything unfamiliar to me, but even if this had been my first attempt at a shirt I think the instructions are good enough to ensure that sewing the Belinda would be a fairly smooth experience.

My (high/full) bust/waist/hip measurements vary between a size E and F and halfway between the two. Having looked at the finished garment measurements, I decided to make a straight size E for my toile and go from there. That was mainly because my high bust is the right measurement for the E so I thought that would hopefully mean the shoulders/neck should fit.

My toile turned out nicely and the only fit adjustment I made was to lengthen the shirt by 3 cm, which is a standard alteration for me (I'm about 5'9"). I also used an extra button, partly because I'd lengthened the shirt and partly because I always position a buttonhole at my bust point to try to prevent gaping and I needed an extra button to make even spacing work around that.

The fabric that I used is a floral cotton poplin that I bought locally from a shop that doesn't have it available online. It's a pretty print and I think the fabric works really well for this shirt.

I really enjoyed sewing my Belinda Button Up shirt, and I think it turned out nicely. I particularly like the ruffle collar - it's cute without being twee, and gives the shirt a bit of a distinctive character. I could definitely see myself sewing this pattern again, and that's always a good verdict isn't it?!