Cotton Tartan Saraste Shirt

 I bought this fabric in the Utrecht textile market, when we visited it almost one year ago. It is a thick, checked cotton, in beautiful red, black and white tones. 

I decided to use again the Saraste shirt pattern from Breaking the Pattern book by Named, as I did in this other checked shirt I made. The only change from that project was to make the sleeves longer, as they ended up being in the short side then. 

Everything was going smooth, the fittings were great, until I realized the bust darts were beginning in different places of the checked pattern. At first I thought the problem was the darts, but finally I learnt the sad truth: I had cut the pattern pieces on the folded fabric thinking one of the white lines run over the one in the bottom, but it went 10 cm down, to the next white line. I made this huge mistake when cutting the fabric because I rushed the process, in my rush  to get things done. This is one of my sins as a seamstress, sometimes I rush and speed the process, and these are the consequences: the shirt is totally askew, the plaid goes down unbalanced instead of being horizontal. It is a disaster. 

When I realized my mistake I considered the possibility of throwing it away, but by then it was almost finished, and my partner said it was unnoticeable to the unknowing eye. So I decided to finish it and wear it. It is nice and comfortable to wear, but I will always know it as the askew shirt.

Errors are an opportunity to learn, and I have learnt to cut the patterns on unfolded fabric, matching the checks carefully in this kind of fabric.