Have you ever had one of those projects that just took forever to finish? This linen Classic Shirt with handmade lace was one of those projects, but it’s finally finished!
It all started with some handmade lace that my friend’s mother made for me quite a few years ago. It takes many hours to make, and she loves to do it. When she comes to visit her children in Madrid she brings her lace with her, and eventually I hope to have the time to learn to make it myself.
Since she knows that I sew, and because her son and daughter-in-law have their fill of lace (they have two adolescent boys, so lace isn’t a big part of their lifestyle) she made me several meters of lace, which I safely guarded for a special project. I was determined to actually use it, because there’s nothing worse than saving something special like this for someday in the future that never comes. You probably have a drawer full of antique linens that your grandmother or someone else in your life was saving for sometime special too, right? That is not going to happen on my watch, I’m determined. I already have two boxes full of beautiful handmade doilies, hankies, tablecloths, and table runners that have been handed down to me, but I don’t know what to do with them. (Ideas, anyone?)
In any case, the lace waited for me for about 6 or 7 years: two moves, a divorce, the purchase and renovation of an apartment, the departure of my kid for college, a few boyfriends, and a new sewing studio. Whew, no wonder there hasn’t been time for projects like this! But last spring I finally decided to sew a Classic Shirt in linen using the lace. So I got busy cutting all the pieces, then set them aside because S was home for spring break. Somewhere in the shuffle the lace got misplaced and I didn’t locate until months later. By then I was really busy again, so everything sat and waited for months later. And finally in August I managed to get everything into one place and found time to sew it! I also used some vintage buttons from my stash because I thought the lace warranted them.
As it turns out, handmade lace requires much more care than the lace we are accustomed to purchasing in the store. I need to carefully starch it, stretch it, and press it each time I wash this shirt. And the lace still has a tendency to droop after a few hours, so this is a special-occasion shirt. By which I mean, a wear-with-jeans-on-a-regular-basis shirt. Because I refuse to let it be that precious. It does take more care than I expected, which also explains why my friends don’t want their bedsheets trimmed with lace, as pretty as that might be. But I’ll be wearing this one. Just maybe not so often as my other Classic Shirts because I don’t have that much time to iron!
I’m actually very pleased with how it turned out. And I’m also relieved that most of my projects don’t proceed like this one. Amazing that Pepa has the patience to make this lace, but sewing this shirt cost me quite a bit patience too, in a different way, obviously. And now that I’m situated in my new studio it will be easier to keep track of projects like this. But for now, I’m celebrating a project that’s finally finished!
Eventually I’d like to learn to make lace, and Pepa says she’s willing to teach me. But first I need to get my Spanish driver’s license, improve my Spanish so I understand everything (not most) that Pepa says, and finish another season of sewing patterns. That may take longer than this blouse… we’ll see.
Our Classic Shirt sewing pattern continues to be available in both paper and digital format because you seem to like it as much as I do! If you haven’t tried it I hope you do. It’s got all details of a good button-down shirt plus cup sizes and some unique sewing techniques that will give you great results.
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