Itch to Stitch Chai Shirt and Dress

I love testing for Kennis Wong at Itch to Stitch. Her patterns are great and always flattering on me. What I love the most about testing for Kennis, is that I always learn something new. While testing the Chai Shirt & Dress, I broadened my sewing skills learning to make a collar with a stand. I've done mandarin style collars before, and I tested the Zamora and it had a collar that tied. The Mila shirt has been on my - "to-make" list for awhile and I was slightly intimidated by the collar. Now, I'll be ready to tackle it next.

According to the website - The Chai Shirt and Dress is a classic fit-and-flare style that flatters everyone.

I will have to agree. The pattern is on sale for a limited time.

The Chai shirt has a vintage flair. It inspired me to use this retro swiss dot fabric I've had on my shelf for nearly 10 years. It's a summery woven with a print of red flowers in vertical rows.

I have to say, I was quite pleased with myself at how great my collar looked. If you look close, you can see that I used red buttons shaped as flowers.

The pattern comes with cup sizes ensuring you can get the perfect fit. This sleeveless version will be getting a lot of wear this summer.

For my second Chai Shirt, I decided to use a purple pima cotton.  I bought this fabric about a year ago from Golden D'or during one of their clearance sales for 99 cents a yard. It was such a lovely color and so silky soft, that I bought the whole bolt.

I love the sleeves on the Chai. It has gathers to give just a little fullness and plenty of room for movement.

The waistband is such a nice detail. On this version I took 0.5" out of the band's height. I'm 5' tall and I felt that the slightly thinner band would work better with my proportions.

The shirt looks great with slacks and will get worn to work regularly.

Even though this fabric was more difficult to sew with, I'm pretty happy with the finished shirt. I ran into a few problems with the collar on this one, but I don't think it's too noticeable. I think if I had used a heavier interfacing or maybe added interfacing to the upper collar, then it probably would have gone together smoother.

I used purple flower shaped buttons on this shirt. When I bought the red ones, I noticed that the purple version matched this top.

Be sure to check out the photos from the other testers on the Itch to Stitch blog. The dress version is really pretty. Kennis didn't mention it until, after the testing was done, that the dress could be made maxi length. I love maxi dresses and will have to try a Chai maxi dress.