Pattern Description:
Easy fitting shirt-styled blouse with sleeve and side hem tabs, roll collar and cut-on front placket.
Pattern Sizing:
36-44. I cut the 44.
Fabric Used:
Rayon challis from Fabric.com. Instead of fusible interfacing I used a layer of cotton lawn together with a layer of cotton batiste to keep the drape-y qualities of the challis.
Did it look like the photo/drawing on the pattern envelope once you were done sewing with it?
Pretty much - except with proper cuffed long sleeves. And a lot more 70s.
Were the instructions easy to follow?
Mostly the instructions were fine for anyone who has sewn a little before. I was a bit confused by the instructions for the sleeve vent lapped placket, but I consulted my sewing books, and it became clear what I was meant to do once I had a go with the muslin, and realised that one half was folded under whilst the other half extended out from the slash underneath.
The only bit I found completely opaque was for applying the bias strip neck facing. It says to lay the bias strip on the collar, but then that it is resting on the body of the shirt, which was rather confusing. As it went to to tell us to fold it upwards, I went with putting it on the underside of the collar seam. As the pattern has it, the facing seems to come out super narrow, just 5mm wide when folded and sewn over the raw seam allowances. This means that even with trimming and grading the seam allowances that it encloses, it comes out rather bulky. To be honest, I'm not entirely sure what I ended up with is correct and if I made it again I would probably try and work out something a bit different.
What did you particularly like or dislike about the pattern?
I like: the button tabs on the sleeves and the side hems, the interesting button placement, and the overall fit. I dislike: the bias neckline facing.
Pattern alterations or any design changes you made:
I decided to muslin this unaltered as it is easy fitting, and found only minimal alterations were needed: forward shoulder adjustment, raising the back neckline, adding a shaped CB seam, and a small FBA.
As for design changes, I added vents and cuffs to the sleeves. The pattern pieces for the sleeves to 124 are identical to pattern 125, so it was simple to add the cuffs using the instructions for the other pattern (but without the topstitching). This made it much more versatile as I can wear it with the sleeves unrolled as well.
Before making the buttonholes on the front band, I tried out (with pins) the placement as marked, having adjusted for the size 44 (the pattern is marked for size 36). I found I needed to move the second group of buttons up about 2.5cm so that my bra didn't show (I will be wearing this blouse with the very top set undone). I moved all the buttons up accordingly so that the spacing was even, but this left the single button too far from the bottom, so I added two more buttons to make this into another group of three.
Would you sew it again? Would you recommend it to others?
I may well sew this again, although I have other shirt and blouse patterns that I'd also like to try.
I would recommend this pattern, but not for absolute beginners as it requires a bit of precision. I think it will also work best in slightly drape-y fabrics, and these can be a little hard to handle during construction.
Conclusion:
At last, a flattering shirt! It still pulls slightly to the back, despite the forward shoulder adjustment, but this doesn't bother me too much. The button bands also sag slightly, but I think this is unavoidable with such a lightweight fabric. I'm super pleased with this though, and it will certainly be worn on an upcoming holiday as I can cover up a bit without boiling. The rayon is so light and airy to wear, and (despite my husband telling me it reminded him of his 70s pyjamas) I can see myself wearing this throughout the summer.
There is more information about the pattern alterations and construction on my blog, plus lots more pictures. |
|Login|Help]
to add a link
Pattern with more than 5 reviews!
My goodness, you certainly did a lot of work on this! Very pretty.
3/10/13 1:57 PM
Your blouse looks really nice. I liked this pattern and was thinking of using a softer fabric, like you. Thanks for a very helpful review!
3/10/13 6:47 PM
I love this and love your review and enjoyed reading your blog.
3/12/13 10:59 PM