Finally, a shirt that fits!!

Not just a shirt that fits, but one that fits and is not made of spandex. It took me all day yesterday (okay, probably more like three hours, but when that is broken up into bits of five or ten minutes at a time, it takes longer to get anything done), and three attempts, but I figured out a pattern to make myself a top. I started out with a store-bought sundress pattern that I thought would make a good shirt (actually, I still want to make the dress, if I can figure out how to make it nursing accessible). So that was the first attempt. I moved the bust darts and shortened the shoulder straps (it's sleeveless tank-top style) and made a newspaper pattern. That was try #2. Unfortunately, I didn't move the bust darts quite far enough, and there was something not right about the armpit holes, so I had to change it again. Finally try #3 fits the way I want it to!! Still haven't figured out exactly how I am going to finish the hem and around the neckline and arm holes. Pattern calls for bias binding, which might be okay, but I'm just not sure. If they actually made patterns that fit me, I'd already have six of them sewn in the same amount of time it took me to make just the first decent one. But now I have a working pattern, and plan to use up lots of that cotton fabric that I have laying around. :-)

edit:
I finished it off with white bias tape, since that was the only color I had in the narrow width. It looks a bit too much like hospital scrubs, and there are a few more adjustments I need to make to the pattern before I sew another, but it turned out okay. Not fabulous, but not horrible, either. Definitely the best fitting shirt I've had in many, many years.
*sigh* oh to be fifteen again and able to wear clothes off the rack...

edit again:
after several test runs, I think perhaps a hand-rolled hem around the neckline and arm holes would be the best way to go. Either that, or make my own bias tape link.