Sewing the Classic Button Up in a Lush Tencel Twill

Hello friends! I have been enjoying some lengthier projects as of late. Today, I want to show you the first of a few of these – the Wardrobe by Me Anna Shirt* in a Tencel Twill from Raspberry Creek Fabrics!

The Fabric

Tencel twill is a woven fabric that is soft (amazingly soft!!) and feels so good to touch and wear. Tencel is a natural fabric made from wood pulp. It is luxurious as well as very breathable and is good at keeping moisture away from your body.

As far as sewing with tencel, it has wonderful drape and texture. It’s not a stiff or structured fabric like quilting cotton and works well for projects that you want the extra ease of a woven fabric but do not want the resulting garment to look like a tent on you. Even with all of it is drape, it is really sturdy to sew with and takes pressing very well. Some woven fabrics with nice drape are slippery and shifty, and tencel is NOT. It is such a well-behaved fabric in comparison to rayon challis or chiffon! It is one of those dream fabrics for me, and I wished I could get my hands on a ton of more colors (and prints, I never see prints!!).

I was really happy with the particular weight of tencel from Raspberry Creek Fabrics. The weight of this tencel twill is 4-5 ounces and is wonderful for tops and dresses. It is not a thin or see-through fabric but is the weight I expect for a button up.

The Pattern

I instantly knew the pattern that I wanted to use for this fabric! This really was such a rare treat! I can be indecisive and feel overwhelmed with decisions on some fabric and want to hoard it for the perfect pattern to come along! I chose the Anna Shirt by Wardrobe by Me*. I have made this pattern twice before. I blogged about those two Anna shirts here.

Adjustments: I removed 3 inches in length from my sleeves as before, but this time I printed a size down due to weight loss between now and then. I did not make any other pattern adjustments.

This is not a quick pattern to sew. It has all the details you would expect from a button up shirt: collar, stand, placket, back yoke, pockets, sleeve house, sleeve pleat, and cuffs. The pattern has you sew the sleeve first. I always am so fascinated when I finish a sleeve house with a cuff each time. This is probably because it is not something that I sew every often and is a detail on a more tailored shirt.

The pleat on the back is optional. I chose the non-pleated back.

The only seams that you need to finish on the inside of the shirt is the sleeve seam and side seam. I finished these with my serger, but you could use a zigzag on a regular sewing machine on this part. The included seam allowance on the pattern is 3/8 inch, so there is not room to do a different style of seam finish.

The only place that I deviated from the instructions is that I hem before I sew the sides together. I think it makes a curved hem lay so much nicer to do it this way.

With that sharp of a point, if you want to hem until the very end, you would have to stretch the underneath of your hem to make it work, which causes pulling and ripples in your hem. Since I serge the seam after sewing up the sides, I press the seam to one side and then tack it down at the very bottom so it doesn’t move around.

The only part I find difficult in this pattern is setting the sleeve in. There is a lot of easing in the front.

Styling

I love a classic button up shirt! It is a style that seems to have been around for such a long time. Even though it takes me several days to make one, I don’t feel it is a waste of sewing time because it is not a trend that is going to end in a year or two. I hate to waste a lot of precious sewing time on a garment that may be in one season and out the next!

A classic button-up is that one garment in your closet that can be very dressy or casual, and you can style it in so many ways depending on your mood or how your weather is that day. I like to tie mine in the front or tuck the front in, and roll my sleeves up. You can also wear a top underneath and wear it open. For bottoms, jeans, slacks, skirts.. you name it, you will look good. As far as shoes, I seem to pick what is the most comfortable and goes well with the bottoms I picked.

The jeans I am wearing in this post are MY FIRST PAIR OF JEANS that I have ever made!!!! I will be sharing them on the blog this week, so stay tuned for them!

Resources

• Raspberry Creek Lightweight Tencel Twill in Moss
• Pellon Featherweight Fusible Interfacing
• Buttons from Steve at Super Textiles
• Wardrobe by Me Anna Shirt Pattern

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*Disclosures

This post may contain affiliate links, which means I receive a small compensation when you purchase via my link. This does not cost you anything, and I genuinely appreciate the support. Any and all opinions expressed are still my own.