Style Arc Elsie Woven Overshirt in Polka Dots

Style Arc Elsie Woven Overshirt 

I have made the Style Arc Elsie Woven Overshirt. It's hot off the sewing machine last night and worn to work today. The perfect shirt for our unseasonably cool day of 20 degrees Celsius, compared to the day before yesterday when we experienced 43 degrees. 

Style Arc Elsie Woven Overshirt

From the Style Arc Website: This square shaped shirt features the trendy reverse revere, patch pockets and roll up sleeves. A must have shirt in your wardrobe for all seasons.

I made a size 12 without any alterations. The fabric is a navy and white polka dot rayon purchased from Spotlight back in November last year. Being rayon, it has a lovely drape which tones down the boxyness of this shirt, as described by Style Arc. However, it was a nightmare to cut and sew.

I decided to take my time, and sew in shorter stints over several days, to reduce the frustration. I was able to start each time with renewed enthusiasm. There was a bit of unpicking and resewing as that rayon seems to have a mind of it's own, but I'm glad I persevered and I am pleased with the result...not perfect, but good enough.

I am wearing it today with my Style Arc Elle Pants in navy stretch bengaline. These were made back in 2014 and are starting to look a little shabby. Must be time to make some more.

The Elsie has some lovely details. I particularly love the reverse revere collar. I used a lightweight fusible knit interfacing from Spotlight in the bands and cuffs, which worked very well with the rayon. I decided not to add the patch pockets as the rayon was a bit sheer and the polka dots showing through the pockets was not a good look. 

There is a box pleat at the centre back which creates the loose fit. The yoke is unlined, and does feel a little flimsy in the rayon. This could easily be remedied in any future makes.

The high low hem and side splits are very on trend and I love the backside coverage it provides. The hem was simply overlocked and turned up 1cm and top stitched (mitred corners). I did stabilise the edge with Bondaweb before top stitching and it helped a lot. Next time I would add to the hem to allow it to be turned up twice as it would give a much nicer finish.

I followed these instructions to sew the binding on the sleeve slits, which was excellent. Style Arc's instructions are really just an order of construction. I feel that they got this a little out of order, sewing the sleeve binding after the sleeve had been sewn to the body of the shirt and the side seams sewn. This was quite difficult, but would have been much easier if done while the sleeve was flat. So do step 11 after step 8 and before step 9.

One issue I did have with the Elsie while wearing it today, was that the sleeve tabs kept falling out of the sleeve slits. They do seem to be unnecessarily long...something I will change in the next one.

Overall, I am loving my new Elsie Woven Overshirt and I can see it going with several other garments in my wardrobe too.

Happy Sewing

Jean