I’m finally able to be back here to share another Perfect shirt with you. Though our weather has been mild compared to most of the country, it has still been consistently dreary and cold. The dreariness made for grainy photos and the cold, well, made me really cold. Today has been just as chilly, but better lighting at least made it easier to get some photos quickly so I didn’t turn to ice. After all, this shirt is made of lawn, which is a silky lightweight cotton which is ideal for warm weather!

So let me tell you about this shirt. This fabric is really special because it is a Japanese exclusive Liberty that my friends at Jones & Vandermeer managed to find on some of their travels. Sometimes they do get in some small batches of Japanese Liberty, and its always a major treat to add those to my collection when I’m able to. You can see this print, Margaret Annie, is so full of rich blues and greens. I like it because even though I’ve sewn with other colorways of this print, I don’t have any garments with these colors, at least not with only these colors. It’s quite summery, don’t you think?

Initially when I picked up this fabric, I had planned to make a dress. But you know, Covid. My dresses really only get worn on Sundays. I wish I wore my dresses more around the house just because- I always like seeing that sort of daily wardrobe in period pieces and in classics like Leave It to Beaver or I Love Lucy- but with the demand of a nursing baby and all the messy household things, I generally opt for jeans and a top.

So this fabric became another Perfect Shirt. I’ve written more about this shirt in several other posts here, here, here, and here, in case you would like more details. But the short version of it is that the Perfect shirt is the best thing J.Crew has ever created (and incidentally now discontinued), and a few years ago I took one apart and made my own pattern with it so I could recreate the shirt for myself with whatever fabric I want whenever the fancy strikes.

It is simply a classic, wonderfully tailored shirt that will be just as in style in fifty years as it is today, even if 16 year olds on TikTok wearing 90s mom jeans and oversized everything think that classic silhouettes make one look old or outdated. Um, the word is classic. Okay, thanks. :) I had to note that because I’ve been seeing where skinny jeans and side parts are apparently the signature look of old people according to today’s teens, who are clearly wrong. Sit down, kids, and don’t get up until you’ve binged at least one season of What Not to Wear.

I chose to add rounded collars to this shirt, just like I did with the last one. Also, I really like the look of a pop of color against the buttons, so I’ve been doing that on most shirts since making this one.

I will have some other projects to show you later this week or next week if the weather will cooperate and we get some more sunshine. I do plan to show you all the Perfect shirts I’ve been working on, but I will be styling them differently and also breaking up those posts with some other projects because I recognize that my readers might not be as excited by seven version of the same shirt as I am. Even though they are terribly exciting!

Stay warm and stay well, friends! I am especially thinking of my midwest friends who are facing extreme winter conditions in places that are simply not prepared for such weather.

Thank you for reading!

-Meredith