Sunday, August 23, 2009

Sewing Saturday

It rained yesterday. Almost all day. I'm tired of rain: my tomatoes are hitting the dirt before they're ripe, my basement is damp around the edges, and I think I am, too.

But on the other hand, rain justified spending a day in the workroom with the AC on low, supervised of course by Lily the cat. And we had a productive day, the most sewing done in the entire month of August.

So glad I brought my mojo home from NY.

First up, a project I started when I was mojo-free. This blouse is from Simplicity 5204, one of those wardrobe patterns marked "easy-to-sew." This was a pattern I picked up when I first started garment sewing again in 2005, because I thought it would be simple and good practice until I picked up speed again. I've only ever made the blouse, but I've made it 5 times now, and each time I tweak the fit a little more.

This version was made in one of my recently-purchased Liberty cottons, a William Morris print called Strawberry Thief. This was the print I had the most yardage of, and I'd originally planned to make a dress, but I wasn't sure how that much of that fabric would look, so I opted to make a blouse instead. Now I think it wouldn't be so bad, so I'll knock out my TNT A-line skirt to match, and that way it can be a dress or not, depending on my mood and just how much busy fabric my eyes can stand to look down at.

This is really a nice little blouse pattern. There's a wide fitting dart at the bottom, so no bust dart, and it gives a nice fit. The facings are wide enough, for a change.

The collar is a treat as well. No collar band, so it makes for fast sewing. The collar fits right into the edge of the facing, so the trickiest part of the entire collar is to make sure you pin the point back out of the way so you don't sew it into the seam. Yes, that is the voice of experience talking. Not this time around, but the first and second versions I did that. You think I'd learn, wouldn't you?

But no, apparently not.

The sleeve as drafted was a little too big (or rather, they wanted me to ease it into next week and there's no reason for that - I took about 1.5" off the sleeve cap and it fits just fine; I can raise my arms and everything). Other than that, it's a basic shape that can be shortened, lengthened, widened, etc., with minimal fuss. This time around I did it their way, with buttonholes through all layers that button over to the side. It's a nice look, and it allowed me to use 4 more of the pink pearl buttons from the grandmom stash.

This didn't take much time to finish - I'd started it earlier in the week and put it aside when inspiration failed. After the combined inspiration of fabric shopping and 3 hours of Project Runway, I was full of ideas, but I forced myself to finish this first.

Even though I'm focused on fall sewing, I decided to keep going with this because I know what happens to projects that get put aside, and I like this fabric way too much to finish it next year as a UFO. Besides, even though it's very light weight, the colors are pretty much 4-season, and I have plenty of jackets and skirts that would coordinate with this. And who knows, the skirt may follow before fall officially gets here, anyway

Next up, the second part of my Sewing Saturday (but first, I'm off to see if I can get in some Sewing Sunday).

7 comments:

Lisette M said...

Very pretty Karen, I love William Morris designs.

Nancy K said...

Lovely blouse.

Little Hunting Creek said...

Pretty blouse - I really like tne fabric. It should make a nice skirt too

gwensews said...

Very pretty blouse. Lovely print.

Rose said...

The blouse is a nice celebration to the Mojo Return. It looks great!

Gretchen the Household Deity said...

You did such a fantastic job matching the prints! It looks like a very nice blouse, and you're right about the colors being seasonless. I think you'll be glad you finished this one.

kbenco said...

Strawberry Thief is my all time favourite William Morris Print. I adore your blouse.