At the last minute I decided to participate in Shirt Month and just barely made the deadline to finish my shirt by February 28th. I made the Deer and Doe Melilot. This is my second time making the Melilot. The first Melilot I made has a few mistakes and I wanted to see if I could remedy those mistakes with a new version.

In my original version I followed my measurements to grade out at the hips because I am quite pear shaped. However, my hips are most wide really below where a shirt would hit me. The shirt also has a good amount of ease built in to it so grading up wasn’t strictly necessary to get the shirt to fit me. This means that I graded up way too much and the shirt kinda sticks out at the sides. For this version I graded from a size 34 at the bust and waist out to a size 36 at the hips. I also shortened this version by 1″. My first version I shortened by 2″ and it would come untucked at the sides.
The directions of the Melilot have you interface both sides of the collar and collar stand. I’ve made several shirts since my first Melilot and it seems a little odd to interface both. Instead of doing that I ended up following the directions for the Closet Case Patterns Kalle Shirtdress for interfacing and sewing the collar.

Another detail I stole from the Kalle was the bias faced hem. The Melilot directions have you just turn up the hem and sew it and my first version sticks out at the sides. I got a much flatter hem, especially at the curve, with the bias tape method.

Next time I make this I think I will also steal the sleeve cuffs from the Kalle. The cuffs on this version are just a rectangle folded in half and they stick out quite a bit. This apparently bothered me with my first version but I didn’t remember so I didn’t change it for this version. The cuffs on the Kalle are shaped and lay a lot flatter. At this point should I just make the Kalle instead of the Melilot? The body shape of the shirt is a lot different so I think I’ll just mash up the patterns and make a Kall-iliot? The Kalle is very boxy and comes in a cropped, tunic or dress length so the Melilot with some details from the Kalle really is a completely different shirt pattern.

I used this rayon cotton floral voile from blackbird fabrics and I absolutely love it! It is super easy to sew with. even though it is very light weight it is not shifty at all. Because it is so light weight I’m not sure that I would make a dress out of it but I do love the fabric for a top. Originally I didn’t want to pattern match the front because the button band/ shirt details get lost in the pattern but when I didn’t pattern match I got some weird twinning of the pattern on the front so I ended up re-cutting one of the sides and pattern matching to avoid any unwanted twinning.

Anyway, I’m so glad I decided to make this shirt at the last minute because I’ve already worn it a ton. At first I was a little worried that it looked too much like a Hawaiian shirt but I’ve been wearing it tucked in mostly and I feel like that reduces the Hawaiian shirt vibes.