I Am Irma shirt dress in a Fabric Godmother floral print

This is my first I Am Irma shirt dress, an I Am Patterns design, and my first make as a Fabric Godmother ambassador! I made the I Am Irma shirt in cotton lawn and organza last year. For the shirt dress version, I chose this print, Ava Floral Viscose ECOVERO™ Satin with a navy background to make the dress-length version of this French pattern. I confess that when I picked this fabric, I chose it for the print and didn’t notice that it was satin. So when I got it in the mail last month, I thought, uh oh, shiny and slippery! But as you can see, it was fine. Read on for sewing details.

This photo from Fabric Godmother is a better look at this luscious fabric, which has a lovely drape and is so soft! I didn’t know what Ecovero was so I looked it up and it’s apparently a more sustainable viscose.

I Am Patterns is a French company and the I Am Irma pattern was released in 2020 as part of the I Am Magic collection. The size range goes up to 52 (hip 47.25″/120 cm). I made size 44 (bust 38.5″/98cm). When I made the shirt, I picked size 46 and I’m not sure why. But 44 is a better fit for me.

I made the version with bishop sleeves. The I Am Irma pattern also has a classic cuffed sleeve option.

I Am Irma has a hidden button placket. After I finished taking photos, I discovered that I missed buttoning the button below the collar stand. Oops. So if you see some odd pulling there, that’s why.

I Am Irma shirt dress pattern adjustments

The only pattern adjustment I made was a 3/8″ (1 cm) square shoulder adjustment. There is a bit of ease in the sleeve cap so I did not raise the bottom of the armscye to compensate.

I’m 5’7″ (170 cm). I Am Patterns designs for a height of 5’5″/168 cm, as I’ve noted in my sewing pattern height chart. The I Am Irma shirt dress is quite long in the back. When I looked at the finished length, I saw that the length increases slightly as the size goes up. So I didn’t think it was necessary to lengthen my pattern pieces.

Tips on sewing viscose fabric

I consulted Sandra Betzina’s All New Fabric Savvy and read her entry on rayon viscose. One thing she noted is: “Despite your best efforts at accurate cutting, seam lengths seem to differ when you pin together.” So she suggests placing the side with the longer seam on the bottom so the feed dog will ease it to match the shorter side. She also recommended using cotton thread and a new sharp needle because a dull needle will snag. I used Mettler cotton thread and a Schmetz 70/10 microtex needle.

Given what she said about cutting, I decided that it would be best to trace all my pattern pieces and then cut them. Years ago when I cut pattern pieces that I pinned to slippery fabric, some pattern pieces were off. And I mean way off, like I had to buy more fabric off. lol

I prewashed my fabric and used pattern weights to hold the pattern pieces in place — one of my heavy pattern weights (3.75 pounds/1.7 kg) that I got from Wawak and several smaller pattern weights that I got from Thanks! I Made Them. (Note: These are not affiliate links, just providing them for your convenience.)

Tracing pattern pieces

I used a yellow chaco liner to trace the pattern pieces on the right side of the fabric, per the instructions. Of course, after I was done tracing, I discovered that the chaco liner worked better on the wrong side. But if I had traced on the wrong side, I would have had to keep track of which front pieces to flip. So no biggie.

I thought I was accurate when I traced the pieces but the chaco liner does snag a little on the fabric so there was a little distortion. There’s a lot of ease in this pattern so I didn’t really care if I was off on most of the pattern pieces. The only pieces where it really mattered was the collar and collar stand. So I placed my pattern pieces on top of the cut pieces and trimmed any excess. I think by tracing, you don’t end up with smaller pattern pieces but slightly larger is some areas. And larger is certainly better than smaller!

Interfacing

The I Am Irma shirt dress calls for interfacing in the collar, collar stand, and cuffs. I also added a strip of interfacing to the button placket. This fabric has a soft hand and needs some extra support where the buttonholes and buttons go.

When I looked at the lightweight interfacing in my stash, I picked a black woven and a black knit interfacing. Then I cut half collar pieces to test them and picked the woven interfacing. The knit interfacing didn’t lay flat after pressing. I don’t know if you can tell in this photo but the top collar is the one with the woven interfacing.

I also made a test button placket, complete with fused interfacing, sewing about eight test buttonholes before I was satisfied. When I unpicked a buttonhole, I saw that it left a white line where the stitching was. The good thing about a hidden button placket is that no one will see it if you have to unpick the buttonholes on the shirt dress. But the buttonhole on the collar stand is visible. Sewing that buttonhole was a little nerve-wracking.

If you are using a fabric with drape for this pattern, I highly recommend doing test buttonholes. And you should try some with tear-away stabilizer or just some tissue paper. I started to get some slight distortion after the fifth or sixth buttonhole. So then I put some tissue paper behind it and it sewed more smoothly.

Note on sewing buttonholes

The instructions say to sew the buttonholes and buttons at the beginning, before you assemble the back or attach the sleeves or collar. When I sew a garment, I always sew the buttonholes and buttons last. So that’s what I did with this dress. However, if you wait until after you have attached the collar and collar stand, then it’s tricky to sew the first buttonhole because you can’t fully open up the placket.

So I just moved that buttonhole a little further down from the top to compensate. The next time I make this pattern, I will remember to sew the buttonholes right after sewing the placket!

Collar detail

I hand sewed the collar stand in place instead of topstitching it in place. And I added this fun Kylie and the Machine label, “You can’t buy this.”

Pressing the fabric

Use a press cloth to protect the fabric or press from the wrong side when you can. Use low heat or you may damage the fabric. Seam allowances may leave an impression so be careful when you press near seams. I pinked my side seams rather than serging them so they would not have much of an impression when I pressed them.

For the hem, I sewed a 5/16″ seam and used that seam line as a guide to press the first fold. Then I made a second fold and pressed it.

Back yoke

The pattern instructions have you sew the outside back yoke to the back piece and then attach the inside yoke and stopstitch it in place. I used the burrito method, which worked, even with such a long back piece. I was able to roll up the back piece and fit it in there.

The bishop sleeve

I love statement sleeves — just look at my latest Adrienne Blouse — but they do require quite a bit of gathering. To make it easier to spread out the gathers I quartered the cuff and the sleeve (folding it in half with the seam allowance on one side and in half again) and used pins to note each quarter. Then I pinned the sleeve to the cuff. The instructions call for a single line of gathering 5/16″ or slighly less than 1 cm. This pattern has 3/8 (1 cm) seam allowances so there really isn’t any room for a second line of gathering. Plus, if I removed any visible gathering stitches, it might leave a white mark. As you can see, that’s a lot of fabric to gather!

Final thoughts on I Am Irma shirt dress

I just realized that this is my first shirt dress! I’ve made shirts and dresses, but not a shirt dress before. I really like this pattern and fabric. This shirt dress could also be worn unbuttoned as a jacket. I’ll be sure to take photos of that. I Am Irma is an intermediate-level pattern.

This viscose fabric feels great. It’s like wearing comfy pajamas. In fact, this it would also be great for pajamas, a nightie, camisole, dress, or a blouse.

If you are going to use this fabric for a pattern that has buttons, you’ll want to use small lightweight buttons. The pattern called for 5/8″ (1 cm) buttons. I went with black plastic buttons that were slightly smaller because I was afraid anything larger would be too heavy and drag down the fabric. The top button is an green Atelier Brunette Joy enamel button (12 mm), which I got at my local fabric store Stonemountain & Daughter Fabrics in Berkeley.

And last but not least, I just wanted to mention that I am wearing a vintage beret, my favorite black beret, appropriate for a French pattern, n’est-ce pas?