Merchant and Mills Ellsworth Shirt
This is the Merchant and Mills Ellsworth shirt in a spotty linen viscose blend from my stash. It’s the first time I’ve made this shirt and overall it was a really enjoyable experience. The shirt has lots of traditional shirt details like a collar and stand and cuffs. I love the pop over placket, it’s one of my favourite features on a shirt and this one came together really nicely.
The shirt has grown on sleeves and a loose, boxy, oversized shape. The hem is split with the rear hem lower than the front. I really like this and think the front would be great tucked into high waisted trousers too.
The instructions have all the seams French seamed throughout, which means there is no overlocking or finishing seams required. I love patterns that do this because the finished garment usually is much more robust and holds up against repeated washing and wearing.
One thing I’m not a fan of with this pattern is the sleeve vent binding. A slit is cut in the sleeve pattern and then bias binding sewn around the opening (which is tricky at the end of the slit when the binding has to turn 180 degrees) then the corner of the binding is sewn across from the wrong side to get it into a point. I just find this quite tricky to get neat, but it’s a personal preference. I think next time I make this shirt I’ll swap in some sleeve placket pieces for a crisper finish.
The only change I made to this pattern was to lengthen the sleeves by about 5cm. I like the length now, I think they would have felt too short as the pattern is drafted. I’m 5’8” so if you are shorter you may find the sleeve length adequate as is.
The shirt is really lovely to wear, the loose shape makes it comfy and breezy in warm weather, and it can easily be layered under a jumper or over a vest top.
I’ll definitely be making this again, probably in an enzyme washed linen.
I wrote this review up on the Minerva blog with more photos, have a look here if you are interested.
Disclaimer: I was sent the pattern for review from Minerva, but I bought the fabric myself and all opinions are my own.