Close to being stumped with this one!

 Don't go shopping at quilt shops, even if they are the high end types like Quilted Threads of Henniker, NH. With tongue in cheek, I will tell you why in a moment! I loved this store and sorely miss them. Their owner retired. They were filled with the most glorious textiles, including a small room of Japanese fabrics, oh , my. There were gorgeous garment fabrics as well, not many, but very nice quality. 

The above two pics are the last fabric I purchased at this gem of a store. Their colors and ombre effect blew me away. I saw a shirt, oversize button down, in its future. I found the pattern and it's time has come. Here I go ready to cut.

SURPRISE! The exquisite plants are directional, going one way up the warp of the fabric. The ombre effect goes a different way, dark to light across the weft of the fabric. I spent two entire afternoons trying to make this work. I was using my favorite button down shirt. I could not get it to work. I gave up and went digging for another shirt pattern, any. The fabric is a very nice quality cotton broadcloth so right there many shirt/blouse patterns didn't make the cut, too heavy, too structured, too quilty. Ugh. I kept looking. Eventually I found a second pattern. one sort of color blocked and oversized style. It was still a button down, too. 

I liked how I could color block the sections and maybe make this fabric work.  Another afternoon and more playing around. About an hour into it I made a decision. I ditched the idea of a solid back and decided if I put a seam down CB, this would allow me some leeway. It really didn't. Back to square one! I knew what parts of the textile I wanted where. It was the bodice that was giving me grief. Finally I decided I would not make any effort to be directional. It was just impossible.  Try again, no. Let's just go to bed and sleep on it. 

Next day I got up  with a Eureka moment. After giving up yesterday I decided to clean up a huge old cupboard I have in my sewing area. I found all my heirloom trims and so much more, lots of amazing things. I got it all organized, back in perfect order. Best yet, I got an idea and I think it will work.  Organizing and sorting has always brought me to inspiration. 

I cut the pattern pieces out paying attention to the ombre coloring only and as best I could. I totally disregarded the direction of the plants. The print is so busy, you don't notice much. I laid out my pieces as they would be worn.  Then I stared. 

Next move was to go back to the old cupboard and pull out my trims. I thought if I had something cohesive to pull the disparate colors and directions together it might be the trick. I dumped out my treasures and started to play. I definitely found this to be a good solution. 

This trim, at least 80 years old, as I know the full history of its source, looked lovely. It is a hand made lace from my hoarding great aunt.  But what you see above is not the final story. I will save that for the surprise. At least I am happy and hopefully won't look like I am on my way to a Jimmy Buffet concert in my beautiful botanical print, which I actually wouldn't mind right about this mid February.  This top will have a collar and stand  and button band down the fron. The dark blue is a deep double hem. I'm excited and can't wait to show you all the results. Fingers crossed.

Oh, why not shop in quilt shops? Because this project  taught me that the fabric in quilt shops is designed to be cut up for quilts, not clothing. Think of this fabric being cut into squares or other shapes that are all different colors and once cut they perfectly coordinate, all from one piece of fabric.  Brilliant, right? This was never meant to be a garment. I'll show'em!

Happy sewing.....Bunny

A Fail but Wearable

 Oh, I look so silly, happy in this picture but this shirt is so full of mistakes, all pretty much my own. First, a little background. 

I am on a shirt binge. So many of us who have gone from career wear to a life of retirement really stumble through a lost land of what to wear. It's loaded with style mistakes, dissatisfactions and frequent temptations to just give up on the whole idea of ever looking put together again. Who has sweats on sale? 

Luckily, those of us who sew usually love fashion, fabric, and looking halfway decent and don't give up so easily. For us, it can take a while but eventually the evolution takes place and we end up in the place we have defined as the "new" us. 

I have figured out I love wearing, sewing and the style options of shirts. They certainly challenge my sewing skills, unlike many of the simple garments I see being made out there and that I never wore in my work life. A great shirt/blouse (who cares which is which?) is so damn versatile. It can be so comfortable and oh, the fabrics you can shop for and use! It can top off a corduroy pair of slacks or chinos or any kind of pants with great style and finish or just let you look pretty decent around the house doing around the house things. It does this far better than a tee and jeans. The way shirts look is good. So I have decided to really pursue my skill set as well as my wardrobe around shirts. You may have noticed the ones I've made lately and you will see more. 

I've been inspired in my shirtmaking journey by two women who have some serious skills in that department. One is Karen Euter.  Put her name in Youtube and watch her shirt videos. She has not been sewing long, people,  but she takes her sewing and learning seriously. She makes lots of shirts. She takes you on a journey inside each one. They are exquisitely finished inside.  Her button downs are incredible. The above flannel shirt is my attempt at one of the patterns she uses constantly,  Simplicity 1538.

The other shirt maker I enjoy is Kim from Stash Stitcher on youtube. While I have been watching her for some time she currently just finished a 5 part series on shirt making which she is a pro at.  I learned a lot from her. I particularly loved how she went about her bottom corner and hem treatment there. I learned something new for sure! But there is much to learn from her series. She is a mature woman who makes beautiful clothing and so very well. Here is a link to the series: Stash Stitcher Shirt Making Series   Kim has a great personality and teaches well. She knows how to sew all sorts of garments. Enjoy! 

 The back with the belt. 

So why is this shirt a fail? I just screwed up all along the way. I used what I had on hand for interfacing which I thought would be fine with the heavier flannel. It wasn't. 

In the pic at the very top you can see the button band flipping out, the collar refusing to go down or even bend, just wrong and too late to fix. I now have a selection of lighter interfacing I am experimenting with, courtesy dear sewing friend, Mary J. I will use it on my next shirt. Will you look at how I put my label on the outside of the collar. That was boastfully intentional and I think the powers above punished my brazenness with the continuing errors I made with this top. The label will be removed. 

I used a burrito method for the yoke. That went well. 

The good placket and buttonhole 

Sleeves went in the armscyes very nicely. Before that I did the lapped bindings in the contrast flannel and attached the cuffs. Then I did the buttons and BHs. At no point did I realize I had set my "laps" opposite on one sleeve than they way they should have faced. I ironed my new shirt, tried it on and realized the second cuff had the placket going backwards from the way it should have been going. It was folded the wrong way so put into the cuff the wrong way, of course with the BH now all stitched and cut.  This meant the button, when closed, left a twisted mess of placket and was hard to button as well. It also looked ridiculous. You can't see it in the pics but its awful and will be ripped out as soon as I am done with this blogpost. 

Whew, that's enough but you do get real sewing around here. You also get to witness my persistence and the fact that I don't do wadders. I've had one in the past 20 years that I can remember and it was a design feature the just did not work. Others complained as well about that one. 

ETA 2/20/2025: I forgot to mention the buttonhole thread debacle which I rectified by actually painting them. You can see this by actually clicking on "older post" at the end of this one. There I explain how I go thru the process of painting thread permanently. I have washed this shirt and the color change/paint held up perfectly, no color change or fade at all. 

 

I also had issues with buttonhole placement. I always start by placing the first buttonhole at my bustline and go from there. For whatever reason, I chose to use the buttonhole pattern strip to place the BHs. This ended up putting the first BH too high and in an odd place on my short upper chest and none on my bustline. I won't trust those strips again. I can't believe that at this stage of my sewing journey it was the first time I trusted one of these strips. I am short so never used them before and never will again. 

I still like my warm flannel shirt and comfy old corduroy pants (leftover from heavier days but so soft). Sometimes this just happens  and it is time to move on. 

****************************

I'll leave you with an indulgent picture, more of a portrait. I am going to send it to my daughter as it's pretty authentic and I think she will like it. You know from reading my blog that you get front, backs, sides, details of my makes. I try to make them interesting but no graffiti walls are ever behind me! None out here in the woods! I have often thought, while playing photographer, why don't I take a picture sitting down? But you wouldn't see the garment well, so I don't. Well today I took one sitting down. What a difference, don't ya think?  I like the lighting on this one. ...............Bunny

I Painted Thread!!!

 This buttonhole above used to be medium  gray in color, well, at least the bobbin side of it which is what you see here. In my unbridled enthusiasm to complete this button down shirt, I had put the right brown thread in my beloved vintage Kenmore machine which matched what was used for construction in my Pfaff.  You see, the Kenmore does better BHs with far less aggravation. That enthusiasm knew that I had a medium gray in the bobbin but no one was going to see what was underneath the button band right?

Well, that not well thought out philosophy worked just fine until I completed all the buttonholes. This gave me backsides as you see above, gray and not matching. Ahh, that troublesome top collar band buttonhole, always the troublemaker! Of course it flipped out and was gray as the one you see above and looked ridiculous as all the other BHs were brown. I hated myself for the next 24 hours. I put the shirt aside as I was not thrilled about ripping about a buttonhole in such a prominent spot. Major ugh. The next morning, waking from sleep, I got the idea to "paint" the buttonhole. It worked out rather brilliantly as you can see in the top photo.  Below are the regular buttonholes on the front. 

That collar band BH is now the same color!  Here's what you need to accomplish the same.

* An Inktense ink color pencil in the same color or pretty close. I splurged on a 36 pencil pack some years back and have definitely recieved my money's worth. 

 

* Purell or other clear alcohol based hand sanitizer. This is your medium for painting with the pencil. It works better than water as it does not spread as water would. It helps the color go where you want it and stay there. It also dries quickly. 

* An iron to heat set your paint. Inktense pencils are made to be permanent, and they are, once they are set with heat. This can be done with your iron. I like to use a press cloth just in case there is transfer. 

How:

Put your buttonhole to be painted under some good light and magnification if you need it. 

Pour out a dot of Purell onto a jar lid or other palette type surface, the size of a pea at most. 

Take your pencil in the closest matching color. Make sure it has a nice sharp point. These pencils are good at keeping their points despite use. Dip just that point into the teensiest amount of Purell. 

Now go color your buttonhole, drawing right on top of the threads and being careful to not go beyond the threads. I did not find this hard. If you use too much Purell it could overflow outside the threads. I mean the teensiest dot of Purell is all that is needed. 

Let it dry flat. Proceed with other buttonholes as needed, being careful to not touch the previous ones. 

I wait 24 hours. Then I press the next day with a press cloth on a heat appropriate to the fabric for about 10 seconds.  That's what usually works for me but press as the fabric requires. Do a sample press on a scrap first to make sure you don't damage your fabric. 

Congrats! You have just painted your first buttonhole!

Once again, these Inktense pencils have proven to be a solid member of my notion family. I highly recommend. Valentine's is coming, sewing lovelies!

ETA 02/18/25: I have put my shirt through a normal wash, cool water and regular dryer. The button hole looks even better. It is still the dark color brown, no fading at all, but excess dry paint seems to have disappeared. 

My Crazy Vest

 

If you are a sewist and visit Pinterest and/or Instagram, you may have seen the garments made by a Russian knitter that combine tailored suits and beautiful sweaters. The link I have to her work is corrupt and I'm advised not to go there unfortunately.  The garments I saw were a combination of  exquisitely tailored women's worsted suits  and  the artist's  knitting skills from the bottom up, ending in tendrils midway, quite intriguing.  Since then, others on youtube have tried to imitate the process. I was so taken by it that I had to try it as well. 

None of those who tried the knitted  tendrils knitted them up into the garment. They all started with a sweater, as I did.  It took months for me to find the right sweater to go with my yardage, a wool blend, sort of tweedy.  It was all great fun, very experimental and in the end wearable. I knew it wouldn't be like the artisan knitter's garment but it would be mine.  

I had all sorts of ideas to get those tendrils up the garment. In the end, I would do it differently next time, having learned a bit. The machine was my friend here. I'll go thru my process with you. 

Pattern

For my pattern I wanted something really simple and found it in the Purl Soho Quilted Vest pattern. It is free and you can find it HERE.  My goal was a vest I could really wear to keep warm, particularly around my house. I've worn it a lot since it has been made. I changed the vest to have a slight v-neck and also straightened out the bottom hem edge and removed the curved side slits. 

Fabrics

The lining is an upcycle, or maybe a down cycle, depending on how you look at it! This print is a poly satin skirt that I made and wore to a winter wedding a few years back. There was a lot of fabric in this skirt. You can see the hand picked zipper, deeply tucked border on the hem and the lining in the skirt. It was full and box pleated and HEAVY. I wore it with a very scooped front and back black leotard top. It looked nice but I was done with it once the wedding was over. I kept it for the fabric and it's second chance had now arrived. 

The tailored part of this vest was a tweed wool blend, a soft black with little flecks of grey, light and dark. 

Here is the sweater, a classic cabled crew neck. What I needed for my vision was a sweater with a knitted band all around, not too deep or thin. That was for the hem.  Then I wanted some with cables and rows going up, the better to play with for tendrils. Having sleeves with the same cables would be a plus as would knitted cuffs to match the band. It took a while but I finally found this one day at Goodwill. No pills! and clean. 

I had to give a lot of thought to how this would work. 

Construction

I decided the woolen fabric would be quilted, the better to balance all the texture of the sweater part. I wanted the vest to be warm and the quilting required a batt of sorts. I also wanted to keep this as simple as possible. I started by eliminating the side seams by overlapping the pattern pieces. A piece of well washed flannel would be my batting. It would go throughout. I laid the flannel down then the wool face up on top. Next I drew in diagonal lines to quilt on. I did all that quilting and then drew more lines in the opposite direction, making diamond shapes.  I stitched all around the outline of the vest. I decided not to cut back the batting until I absolutely had to. I found this was a really good idea.  Keeping the flannel across the armscyes really helped stabilized the sewing into one flat sheet to work with. 

After the quilting was done it was deal with the sweater. Before I cut the sweater  anywhere, I did a line of stitches on either side of the the future cut to prevent unravelling. Since I need a broad swath across the back and to wrap around to the center front. I had to cut open the side seams of the sweater. One would go up center back, one front. Sleeves and full collar had to be carefully removed as well and set aside. Shoulder seams were opened.  This gave me two large pieces to play with around the bodice. My first step was to connect them at what would be the CB seam area. I overlapped them and stitched on top. Then I cut them back. I balanced the cables so it would all look nice and intentional. 

I made sure my knit hem would end longer than my wool hem. Next I started sewing straight lines at the side seams and in the middle but only about 2/3 of the way up the green. I wasn't sure what I would do for the tendrils yet. I just wanted to secure a flat base and it was when done. 

This pic above is actually stitched to the wool base. You cannot see the stitching at all. It nestles right into the knit. I made sure I stitched in the ditch, usually right next to a thin line or cable. Amazing how it hides other than a slight bit at CB where the pieces lap.

After a night's sleep it was time to face the interesting part, cutting those tendrils. I cut some large ups and downs across the whole piece. I stitched from the hem to the highest points. Then I took the scissors and cut them back. Stitch more, cut more, continuing always to the end. That was basically the method. I thought to myself if I did this again, I'd work out a way to use Steam A Seam and then cut. But how would I press and not ruin the texture of the sweater? Let me know your ideas. 

When it was all stitched on it was then stitched horizontally across the top edge. 

I used the edges of the cuffs to make the edgeing for the neckline.  

There are 3 bound buttonholes in the vest. This one, a bit fiddly, came out better than I thought. 

This hanging shot will give a better idea of the lining. It's understitched all around. The bound buttonholes have the lining handstitched all around.  There is a pleat, hard to see, going down the center back. The hem has a jump pleat at the bottom. 

I wasn't sure quite where the hem would finish. In the end I let the sweater hem hang about an inch longer and turned in the wool hem. Then I hand stitched the lining to the wool hem further up so the extra length of the lining would make a small pleat for vertical ease. You can see I needed to add  extra bit of fabric all across and that was fine. 

In Conclusion:

This was challenging and fun. It made me think. I thank this Russian knitter who inspired me and others to mimic her artistry, albeit a meager attempt. I've worn this quite a bit since it was made. It is nice and warm and I've gotten many compliments on it. Will I make another? Doubt it as I have seen another unique wool project I would like to try. We are so lucky that we access to such amazing inspiration in our immense digital world. There is so much in my queue. I feel blessed. I think I will do a post on some of my upcoming projects soon. Happy sewing............Bunny

The Koi Fish Blouse

 This is my blue koi fish blouse. I was a bit calmer making this version of the Faux Collar  button down shirt. I knew where to follow my instincts and let the pattern directions just go. It made for an easier construction and happy results. 

Pattern:

Once again, this is the Faux Collar Button Down Shirt from Sewing Therapy , aka, Two O Nine patterns. I have seen the Sewing Therapy patterns online and their Asian aesthetic and simple lines really appealed to me. They seemed tailor made for petites but these come in a wide range of sizes. I used the smallest, a size 0, and the finished bust is 45.5 inches and finished waist and hips are 49.5 inches. The Pattern goes up to a size 24 which gives you a bust of 60 inches finished and hips and waist of 64. Obviously there is huge ease here which I did not adjust. I did no adjustments for my petite frame. In my original version I cut the cropped size. In this version I cut the longer version. preferring to adjust the length at the end. I basically took the "tucked" version down about an inch. I definitely want to be able to tuck this one in. 

 I like it tucked. 

Fabric: 

I was so excited about my first version of this top that I had to make another one, quick. I had so much frustration with the directions that I wanted to vindicate my viewpoint and just go straight thru and make this one more "my way". So I dug right in when I saw this just off loaded "premium" quilting fabric at Joanns. It is 100% cotton broadcloth and has been washed on very  hot and dried in the dryer the same heat. No shrinkage! 

The fish are outlined with a tiny line of gold paint, a nice touch. 

I also found that scrunching it  in my fist, both at the store and at home brought about no pile of wrinkles so I felt good to go. It barely needs ironing after wearing it all day. I loved the blue koi fish but it is also available in the classic "gold fish" color of koi. it is part of a grouping of lovely Japanese nuanced fabrics. It was great to work with, no big ravelling. 

Construction:

I double checked all marking again this time and there are still no marks to match up on that collar so be aware of that and how you lay it out on the bodice to be sewn. The meager directions have no illustrations or photos. They do have simple bullet points, my favorites being "Cut the pattern" and "Sew on the binding." 

You are given a pattern piece for the binding which I thought was too wide and it is. But, on my first top my fabric was very thick so I figured all that texture was ok with the extra width of the binding and it wasn't an issue. On this flat broadcloth, I decided to follow the directions and it made for a too wide binding on the neckline, IMO. But I was not going to take it off for fear of stretching the neckline out. It looks OK. I'm just concerned about wear. 

The pattern has a deep pleat at Center Back. I thought a gathered area might be nice there. It wasn't. I ripped it out and put the pleat back in. Somehow, in that process, the neckline got much smaller than the neckline on the first blouse. I can't figure it out. Something either did or did not stretch out despite stay stitching. In the end, my thin, long neck liked it just fine so I left it. This shirt has a lot of fudge factor. 

The print makes it a bit hard to discern but at the top of the band pattern piece you will see there is some shaping. If you put the band  3/8th inch back from the collar as she says in the video (no reference at all in the pattern directions) and line things up with the shaped top of the band you get this nice criss cross at the top with the two button bands. I saw it on one of her garments but on another sample she just stitched straight across. 

Here is a closeup of the button band.  This is where I really veer from the directions. In Sewing Therapy's video you will see, I believe, a maroon top with a quick closeup of the button bands. She instructs you to  sew the BB to the bodice front RS together of bodice . Then you are instructed to press that seam allowance toward the bodice. The seam allowances  are sticking out into the bodice. Next you are instructed to wrap the button band around and topstitch  and ditchstitch. There is no instruction to topstitch on the other side of the button band and it wasn't . The band on the maroon top looked awful and extremely beginner.  I did my button bands like I bet you and I have done as long as we have been doing button bands. Stitch to the bodice. Trim and press SAs to the band and topstitch both sides. All is internal, hidden and neat , clean and symmetrical. So that is how these were done on the Blue Koi top and I wouldn't have it any other way.  The maroon dress, not the top shown, has the seam allowances pressed toward the band and no topstitching, confusing. That's on the website. 

The sleeve tabs were done differently as well. The pattern, again, has you only topstitch one side of the the tab. I did both. I guess I am just one of those anal, symetrical people. So I proceeded. Next the pattern has you fold the top of the tab a couple of times  and stitch across. I found, even in the organdy of my last top, it made for too much bulk, and when I put the button in the button hole where directed, it caused the top of the tab to flip out and stick out. So, on this top I serged across the top of the tab, folded it once and then stitched across. That was a lot less bulk. I also moved the button hole up a tiny bit. With that the tab does not stick out and looks much better. 

On this top, all of the seams were French seams. I did not face the hem bands, just folded them up an inch and a quarter. 

In Conclusion:

I am pretty sure I will make this again, with the changes I've spoken about today. I might do a faced hem again because it can be seen so easily with the sleeve design. I will definitely cut down the width of the bias binding to the 1 1/4 inch I usually use. I even went looking at shower curtains at Home Goods yesterday! There were some great possibilities there. Don't tell anyone our little secret! Happy Sewing............Bunny

The Faux Collar Top from Sewing Therapy

 

Missed you all, sewing friends! Family, fun and flus  do have a way of getting in the way of blogging but they didn't stop me from sewing! I have some interesting projects finished that I am excited to discuss with you. I have finished two Sewing Therapy "Faux Collar Oversize Button Down Shirts" and have overflowing opinion on them!  I hope you all have spent some lovely holidays with loved ones and are now back to filling the New Year with lots of intentional sewing plans. I can't wait to see what you make as I cruise the web. Let's get going on what I will shorten to the "Popcorn Shirt",  lots easier to write out and say! 

Pattern:

I have been entranced by all the designs by Sara of Sewing Therapy, although she seems to also have another company, Two O Nine,  which sells her designs so that got a bit confusing as I was searching out the pattern for this top. I originally found them on Youtube and they really seem destined for a petite and I like the Asian influence they seem to have. However, they did have their downside. 

I absolutely love my top. It's unique and the fabric is fabulous and is much more appreciated IRL.  I've recieved many compliments on it.  I've read reviews from others and they seem overwhelmingly in love with the pattern as well. Maybe it's a case of you don't know what you don't know but the actual pattern instructions leave a lot to be desired. 

I used US size 0, the smallest size,  which gave a finished bust of 45.3 in., waist and hips of 49.3 in. and a back length of 23.3 inches  for the tucked version. I was making the cropped version but highly recommend cutting the tucked version so you can adjust the length to your liking further on at the end.  As you can see this top is truly oversized so no fit issues unless you don't care for that sort of fit. It is to be expected to be very large so be prepared. You can see how it fit me, five feet tall and 33, 26 1/2, 36. (sigh........sinking and shrinking). 

I also took this opportunity to try out the grid method of  dealing with PDF patterns. It supposedly gives perfect accuracy, no taping and is quicker.  Not quite, but some good points, so here is a link to help with that: Using grid interfacing to trace PDFs It does involve tape, but I found in a good way. 

Before we go any further. the pattern instruction tells you that you can watch a "detailed step by step sewing tutorial" on Sewing Therapy's youtube channel. While it was there and I watched it several times I did fully expect the instructions that came with the PDF to detailed and step by step as well. Grant you, I could have sewn this shirt without any instructions but this was my first frustration. Next, there was no pattern layout, simply a bullet list of how many pieces to cut of each pattern piece headed by a bolded large "CUT THE PATTERN".  The instructions do, barely, show the layout for taping your printing option. It is so finely printed that it is barely visible. I've never seen anything this poor on any other indie. I have a 4 month old printer full of ink. I went online to look at the pdf there and it was similarly barely visible. You can't read anything on it and the lines are so thin and slight it is hard to tell which piece is what. 

Grainlines were 1 3/4 inches long and you get one per pattern piece. Remember, these are oversized pieces, just ridiculous. 

Worst of all, and feel free to correct me, I could not get this pattern to line up. Turns out once I tried Landscape, everything lined up. I did not find this instruction anywhere, AAackkkk.

The instructions tell you to carefully match the marked edges of the collar and sew together, turn right side out, etc. There are no marks anywhere on this collar. The shapes of the collar are just a bit off from symetrical so to make a mistake in placement which I did, was easy.....rip rip.  The highly textured fabric surely added to the confusion, but beware. 

Instructions #4 say to align the collar with the right edge of the frt bodice while the video says to align 3/8th of an inch back. oy,,,,,

When it comes to the neckline the directions are simply "Bind the neckline with bias tape." They provide you with a pattern piece to cut the bias for the neckline. I found it far too wide. I did my own thing with the width. You will see how their width works out on iteration #2 of this top. 

The next issue I had with the pattern is the sequence. After the collar  and binding are on,  it  has you install the sleeves, connect the bodices, do sleeve and bottom hems and then attach the button band. I would skip all that and go directly to Attaching the Buttonhole Placket. You will be dealing with much less bulk and it will be a lot easier getting the button holes in without wrestling all that fabric. Crazy instructions! I tried both methods with my two blouses and found method #2 easier, faster and a cleaner finish. Once the buttons and plackets are done, then return to the previous instructions in their order. 

Whew, I'm exhausted. Let's talk the beautiful Fabric. 

Fabric:

The saga continues! I like nothing on our windows, choosing instead to watch the lake, the seasons, and the amazing wildlife we see in our small, country property. Visits from bald eagles, tons of songbirds, bears, otters, so many water birds are always happening and a joy to watch. Hubs believes windows are like people and need to be dressed. I finally succumbed, after great insistence and went shopping with no excitement. I ran into Home Goods which I knew would have nothing for a simple kitchen valance and looked at the shower curtains. There it was! A snow white Cynthia Rowley plain white shower curtain, beautiful fabric, lots of beautiful fabric. The valance would take 18 inches and the leftover, a 72x78 inch piece of 100% double gauze  with this incredible, crunchy looking popcorn texture and it  was mine! Yahoo! The button bands, binding and hem facings would be 100% cotton organdy I purchased from my Amish friend in NY.  The double gauze was very compliant and the organdy, despite washing was a bit stiff but we managed. I loved the contrast. 

Construction:

Despite the quality of the instructions, this design was quite simple to construct. The collar was brilliant, being tucked into the shoulder seams and front neckline, no futzing at all.  I chose to do Hong Kong seam everywhere but the armscye which was stitched and serged. The hems were all faced with the organdy. 

The sleeves on this top are magnificent and what really sold me on the design. 

They are extremely dropped, wide and are then pulled up with a tab. If you follow Sara's instructions for stitching the tab  and buttonhole placement you will find that it sort of bends out the top of the tab. I didn't like that. On my second top I did my thing and serged the end of the tab and folded it under once and then moved the buttonhole up higher. My trusty Kenmore was able to handle any bulk beautifully. Your inside sleeve and hems will show with this top. 

Because the size is so large and just so near square I ended up placing the side seam on the fold and cut a seam on the center back, my fault totally. The piece being so large and personally being gifted with a long thin neck, I was comfortable putting a seam allowance up center back. I decided to add the pleat as designed but do it in the organdy. I stitched the edges of the the pleat on the inside of the garment to keep it laying nicely and it does. I love this. A pleat out of the popcorn gauze never would have worked. Here you can see me stretching out the side seams to get an idea of the beautiful back and size of this top. It closes and drapes down normally. 

I will add that if you try this pattern: Topstitch both sides of the button plackets. It will look more professional.  Instruction #26 say to press the band installation seam toward the bodice (?) and "understitch/topstitch." Whenever I have done a button band  it has enclosed seams that were pressed toward the band. The inside seam of the band was a bit wider and caught in the topstitching or understitching on top. I don't see how you can enclose the seam if the the seam allowance is pressed toward the bodice and why would you anyway? Is this a translation issue? I don't know but confusing to a beginner for sure.  Also, cut the longer shape and adjust the hem at the end to get the length you want . As far as the slits, they are very short, even on the longer version which is my second iteration. I don't think I will use them next time.

In Conclusion:

In the end, I absolutely love this blouse. I think it is gorgeous. I love the design and the fabric. It was a journey, but isn't it always? Now, my opinion is one formed from a lot of experience which means a lot of expectation. That also includes a lot of hope. I want other sewists to succeed, to find beautiful designs that will fit all sizes from  petite to  Rubinesque beauties. Sewing Theory designs do that. However, let's not give them a sub par product when it comes to instruction. I do think perhaps some of the issue, some, is one of translation. But Sewing Therapy would do well to have some serious editing done by a far more experienced sewist, one who knows what it is like to be a newer or returning stitcher and needs a clearer path to achieving great results with beautiful designs. There are no photos or illustrations anywhere in the instructions, other than a taping layout which is illegible. That would help a lot. This design and others are innovative and beautiful and feminine. Don't dare refer me to the video which I watched numerous times. I paid for the PDF and in doing so expected  clear and professional instruction upon recieving the PDF and its instructions.  

My recommendation is to try this knowing what I have shown you here. I think you can end up with a beautiful, unique garment......................Happy Sewing