Sewing Project: 1950s Shirt

I've always loved 1950s fashion--specifically 1953-1954. Years ago I bought some vintage sewing patterns from ebay. I decided to finally dive in and sew a shirt.

Women were decidedly smaller in the 1950s. It seems they had 32 inch busts and 24 inch waists. I bought a pattern with a 36 inch bust--and had to enlarge it. First I traced the pattern using my trusty light box.

Then I added the appropriate amount to the side seams.

Then I laid out the pattern pieces on the material.

I then cut out the pieces and marked the darts. I followed the instructions, step by step, sewing first the darts, then the side seams, and finally the collar and cuffs.

The last bit was the button holes and buttons. I put that off for a while because I had never made button holes before. I sewed the shirt on my old machine, but I used my new machine--and the button hole maker it has to make the button holes. The button holes turned out looking very professional. I cut them open using a seam ripper.

I sewed on some covered buttons. All done. It doesn't fit me perfectly. The chest area above the bust is a bit loose, but I'm not sure how to fix that. I'm now working on sewing a dress using a 1930s pattern. I have cut it out, but I haven't started actually sewing.