A Gingham Scout

I want to make more tops. As much as I love dresses, I find myself pulling skirt/blouse combos out of my wardrobe more often these days. However, excluding t-shirts, all my tops are either pendrell blouses or portrait blouses. I have a heap of lightweight woven fabric that I would like to make tops from (mostly from my trip to Europe last year), but I need to decide which patterns to use; it feels wrong just making heaps of the two same patterns!

 

In an attempt to broaden my range of top patterns, I decided to try out the scout tee from Grainline Studios. This top is essentially a "wearable muslin" to see what I thought of the pattern and the fit, made from some gingham (with surprisingly decent drape for a gingham) that a friend had given me after buying a heap for making muslins.

I cut the size 10, which is fine but I think a little big, including through the shoulders. So I've reprinted the pattern and cut out the next size down for the next version.

Despite being a bit big, this top is a nice easy 'neutral' top for my wardrobe, when worn tucked into skirts. I really like the neckline and sleeves. However, it's a bit boxy for me to consider wearing un-tucked (unlike my old faithful pendrell and portrait blouse patterns). I'm not sure if this is because it's a smidge big, or it will be that way whatever size due to not having any darts.

And so, I wanted to ask, do you have any nice top/blouse patterns you'd recommend for me to consider?
I would most likely usually be wearing it tucked into skirts, but the option to wear it un-tucked would be nice too. And being able to wear it with layers over it (eg cardigans or sweaters) is a MUST as everywhere is so over-air-conditioned!

Leafy Green Pendrell

This was another project that I cut out for SewAway back in June, but unlike a lot of the other garments from that weekend, I didn't end up sewing this one then, and finally got around to sewing it together in the last few weeks.

This is my 4th Pendrell blouse, and the third in chiffon using just the outer ruffles as cap sleeves from view B (you can see the first three here). As with the previous versions, I french seamed the blouse throughout, and used a self bias binding around the neck and armholes as per the pattern. I love how polished this gives the finish, not a raw edge to be found!

The fabric is a poly chiffon, I think I got it from spotlight ages ago, and always intended to make a blouse from it, most likely a Pendrell.

This make was nice and simple, no alterations to the pattern since the last times I'd made it, I just focused on working through the construction steps and before I knew it, it was done!



This is already a staple in my work wardrobe.

Silk Cotton Portrait Blouse

This past weekend was a long weekend here in Melbourne, and I spent a very enjoyable weekend doing a combination of playing SimCity and sewing up this blouse. I wanted something nice and easy to work on, and since my first version was so successful, I decided to get on with making another version of Gertie's Portrait Blouse.

 

This iteration is made with the silk-cotton blend that I bought when Social Sewing went on the road. It really is beautiful fabric to work with, I'll definitely be keeping my eye out for more of the same or similar. It was easy to cut, easy to sew and easy to press. Nothing to complain about at all!

 

The blouse was made almost identically to the first, except I lowered the armholes by about an inch as I have found the armholes on the first version a tiny bit restrictive. However it turns out this wasn't the right alteration to make, as now you get a nice view of the side of my bra at the bottom of the armhole. Thankfully I kept the bits I cut off, so I'll have to try something different next time. Again. the armholes and neckline were finished with self bias binding, and the hem just a narrow rolled hem.

 

This silk-cotton blend, which is a lot like a voile but with a slight sheen and an incredible soft-ness, has nice drape but doesn't have the weight that the silk crepe de chine had, so doesn't hang quite as well as the first version, but is still more than appropriate for the style of blouse. As you can see in the pictures, it works tucked in or left loose.

  

Between this and the Pendrell Blouse I'm pretty sorted in the simple blouse pattern department these days, which is nice! I'm finally getting a nice collection of smart separates as an alternative to dresses for work.

Hollyburn Sew-along - Finished Skirt No. 2 (and Bonus Pendrell)

As promised, today I'm sharing with you the other Hollyburn Skirt that I made as part of the Sew-Along. As it's a plain black skirt, to make this post slightly more interesting, I will also share with you a new Pendrell that I finished the other weekend (Long weekends of sewing rock!). I promise I really do wear my Hollyburn skirts with other tops too!

The Hollyburn skirt is a lovely fabric that I bought from Tessuti. I don't remember what it is, but it's lovely and spongy, and I'd love to go back and buy a whole bolt of it. It was lovely to sew with and even nicer to wear.

The blouse is made from a chiffon that I was gifted along with a heap of other fabric eons ago. I'd put off making a blouse from it for ages because it was quite a large piece so thought it should be a dress instead. But then I decided a blouse I would wear is waay better than it staying a piece of fabric forever, even if there is some waste.

A burn test on a scrap after cutting the fabric suggests that it is silk chiffon (as opposed to poly). How quickly it creases while wearing also supports that conclusion. I have decided that I am definitely not against polyester in certain circumstances, and chiffon is one of them. My first chiffon pendrell is a cheapo poly chiffon and that one hasn't needed ironing since I bought it, this silk one was creased after wearing it for 5 minutes.

Just like the first chiffon pendrell I made, I did view B with just the outer ruffle, which gives a cap-sleeved effect. I also again did french seams throughout, making the inside of the blouse as beautiful as the outside. I really am a massive fan of french seams.

Also, another new thing you can see in my pictures today, my new camera remote. Hopefully it will make taking blog photos on my own a bit easier.

Don't worry if you haven't finished, or even started, your skirts yet. The posts aren't going anywhere, and the list of links to them all will stay on the Sew-Along page, which is linked along the top of my blog below the banner.

 But remember, you need to send me a link or picture of your skirt by the 11th of Feb if you want your skirt included in the round-up post for the Sew-Along participants! I'm looking forward to seeing all your skirts.

Portrait Blouse

You may have noticed that it's been a bit quieter around here this week than the last few, and that's because I started a new job on Tuesday - hooray! It does mean that I have been very tired and had less time for sewing and blogging.

I have however managed to get a little sewing in each night, and last night I finished a portrait blouse, the first pattern that I've tried from my copy of Gertie's New Book for Better Sewing.

It it also the first garment I've made where I've done a FBA. I traced the pattern in a size 6 (rather than a size 8 as suggested by my full bust) and then did a 1" FBA to add back the ease lost by going down a size (since there is 2" between each size).

I also traced the longest length, as she mentions that it's a short blouse and I figured it would be easier to shorten than lengthen at the muslin stage. I ended up keeping it at that length as I liked it. So if you plan to make the blouse bear that in mind, especially since I'm 5"4 with a relatively short body.

After the FBA I made a muslin, from which I made the following alterations:

• I added 5/8" onto both the front and back side seams
• I removed some length from the shoulder seams - about 1/2" at the front and about 1 1/2" from the back
• I then redrew the armholes so they were approximately the original size
• I lengthened the back by about 1" at the centre back, tapering to nothing at the side seams
• I lengthened the bust dart slightly

Having now worn the finished thing, the only changes I'd make to any future versions would be to scoop out the back of the armhole slightly, and maybe make the neckline very slightly higher. But that's just me being super picky really.

The fabric is a Silk Crepe de Chine that I bought waaaay back at the beginning of 2010 from Tessuti. I was intending to make a Sencha blouse from it, but that never happened, so when I was hunting in the stash for fabric that might be suitable for a pattern from Gertie's book it was an obvious choice.

 

Now, please bear the date of purchase in mind when you compare it to the example blouse in the book - it is a complete coincidence and I did not intentionally copy Gertie's version! Besides, her spots are bigger and if you read the text hers is a silk charmeuse, not crepe de chine (although my fabric knowledge isn't great enough to know if there's any real difference there!)

The silk was super slippery and slidey, so I used my rotary cutter (brand new blade!) and awesome super large cutting mat to cut out the pieces.

 

With regards to the contruction of the blouse I made three changes from the suggested construction in the book.

The first was omiting the facings and instead finishing the neckline and arm holes with self-bias tape. I used the method Tasia uses for the Pendrell blouse to make and attach the bias binding (cutting strips 2" wide) as I really liked the method when I used it on my Chiffon Pendrell and thought it'd be good for this fabric, as the crepe de chine was fiddly to sew. I initially did this because I find facings annoying, both to sew and to wear, but I have since realised that it was a good call as the fabric is slightly sheer, so the facings would have been super obvious.

 

The second was not sewing the vertical darts all the way down to the hem (see below). At the front I stopped around about where the hem line would have been for the size 6 (I think), and at the back about 1 1/4" higher than that point. I preferred the way it looked this way, and also meant that I didn't need to add any extra width for my hips!

The last change was omitting the zip in the side seam suggested in the book.

I wore this blouse (tucked into my grey jenny skirt, as in the top photos) all day at work today and it was really comfy! (which also explains it being slightly crumpled). However, after changing into jeans to take some untucked photos I think it would also be great worn like that more casually. A big success I'd say! If this is an indication of what the rest of the patterns in the book will be like then I'm even more excited about it!