This month on Make a Garment a Month sewalong on Instagram the theme is Shirty September. Interpretations vary between making something which causes annoyance (or shirtiness) or making a shirt. I chose a shirt, but it did cause me some shirty moments.

I bought the Helga shirt pattern for $1 at the Fibres West garage sale and was thrilled when the guest host on Magamsewalong chose the shirty theme as it was the push I needed.

As you can see the Helga has two neckline options – one with a collar and one without. It’s a loose style with a swing back and interesting seamlines.

I had some beautiful pure linen lawn in my stash that I originally bought to make Mark a shirt before deciding that it was too thin for a man’s shirt. It is, however, perfect for this shirt for me! Lucky hey??

I wasn’t sure about the asymmetrical hemline, but it is ok. I made the version with the collar as I really like that neat look.

Tessuti always has excellent instructions and this one was no exception. I did interface the front facing because my fabric is so sheer, and I think it was necessary. That’s the only change I made, except for going down a size as all the reviews said that the pattern was designed to be oversized, but I didn’t want to be swamped, I’m really pleased that I did as it’s definitely not too small.

The swing back is rather lovely and does swing.

The front is pretty swingy too and I’ve included this photo to show how those front seams sit. They are so interesting.

I used some reindeer horn buttons that my friend Denise bought for me in Iceland. They are really beautiful and no reindeer were harmed in their production.

This was a lovely make and I will wear it a lot as the weather warms up. I might make another one for next autumn, but not for a while!

A photo of Miss G up to no good taking a gazillion photos using my watch as the remote. It just fascinates her. I have some very interesting photos!