Textile Studio Pattern #1213 - Mandarin Shirt Jacket

This simple shirt is done in a twill textured linen blend fabric, with Mother of Pearl square buttons; I added pockets as well.  Splitting my time between gardening, quilting, knitting and other crafty pursuits, sewing clothes sometimes gets put on the backburner.  Whenever I come back around to sewing garments like this one, I remember how much I enjoy sewing.   In fact, this shirt took only a couple of days to sew up; so quick and easy.  It's always been my goal to make an artsy, wearable wardrobe.  I'm especially a fan of artists/designers Diane Ericson and Marcy Tilton and I have purchased numerous patterns of theirs.  Having studied postings on their blogs, I think they'd look at this shirt and see a blank canvas.  I lean heavily toward plain and simple, but I'd like to step outside that box one day and aspire toward a more creative approach, using fabric dyes, painting and embellishment.  Ah well, add that to my list of too many things to do, not enough time.