ME +EM Shirt

Kate’s famous casual top from ME + EM has been a favorite of mine for a long time, I love the classic cut of the neckline and silhouette, it’s a classic piece that can be dressed up with a blazer or dressed down with a pair of blue jeans. Audrey Hepburn wore a number of tops that were of a similar fashion during the 50s/60s.

To begin my recreation, I went to ME +EM’s website to look at their Brenton Striped Top. The top is described on their website as “A scoop neckline, 3/4 length sleeves and ruched detailing to the bottom hem are flattering design features. Style with a Fitted Blazer for a Parisian inspired aesthetic.” The fabric consists of 67% Cotton and 33% Lyocell (a form of rayon). The price of this shirt is £48.00 or $70, to be honest I can not see myself purchasing a $70 tee shirt, hence recreating the shirt myself.

THE PATTERN
My next step involved searching for the the perfect pattern to recreate this look. I first began my search on Simplicity.com and McCallPattern.McCall.com, I was looking for a top with a similar silhouette and neckline. After hours of searching through
every McCall and Simplicity patterns I finally came across a close match, Simplicity Vintage Jiffy pattern 1364. The main difference with this pattern however is that it calls for a zipper in the back of the top which I am going to alter so that it is not needed and eliminate the seam down the back of the top. I will be using shirt A with out the optional belt.

THE FABRIC
To find the perfect fabric I turned to a new online source, MoodFabrics.com, as I was running into some difficulties finding a similar fabric with a matching pattern at my local JoAnns. My main focus was towards matching the pattern in a stretch material that was similar to the ME +EM top. I was overwhelmed at the number of options there were, as a novice seamstress and fabric purchaser I had no idea where to begin. My search that I thought would take a matter of minutes took hours of narrowing down just the right material, color, and pattern styles (I used my old pall Google to help define some of the technical terms). Alas, I was extremely thrilled to find a Ralph Lauren, blue and white striped, viscose jersey, material! I purchased more than enough material in the hopes of creating an additional top down the road (and also to cover my butt incase I opposed).

Final Costs
I had mentioned earlier how I was not going to spend $70 on a shirt and I bet you’re wondering, “How much did you really spend on this so far? Ralph Lauren fabric? Really less than $70?” My answer to that is YES, it was less that $70 for everything! The pattern at JoAnn’s Fabrics was $10.77 (after store discount) and at MoodFabrics material $10.50 per yard (after store discount) and thread $3.56, coming to a whopping grand total of $24.82! Boom Shackalacka!

Over the next couple of day’s I will trace the pattern and create a muslin mock up before cutting into the final fabric. I will document the steps that I take and share my comments with you in my next post. Until then happy sewing!