Sunday, March 31, 2013

Fitted blouse, but still flowing

Making blouses is probably one of my favorite things.  I wear them often, and there are lots of fun styles.  When I heard there was going to be a Fitted Blouse Contest over at PatternReview.com I was very excited! I have been really slow in the sewing department lately, and what I really needed was a project that got my imagination fired up, something I really wanted to make.

As is usual for me, I changed my mind several times before I finally got started, both on fabric and pattern choice.
I finally settled for a pattern that has been in my stash for a while but that I had not yet made, McCall's 6649, and a plaid fabric that's been in a my stash a long time.  I think it is rayon challis, both from the feel and from a burn test, but I can't be sure.  At any rate, it didn't have a wrong side, and it flowed nicely, so I knew it would work well on the pattern. It is a TOTAL coincidence that envelope shows it maid up in plaid as well.....



Although the pattern is self described as a semi-fitted blouse, it has bust darts, front darts, and back darts, as well as shaping through the side seams.  It was pretty easy to make it a truly fitted blouse!


It has a very nice back yoke, and I cute that on the crossgrain, to try and get a cool effect.  I like it :)  Also, the back fits perfectly!!  I'm pretty impressed with the fit of this pattern, despite it calling itself semi-fitted.


I have heard a lot about this idea of mixing hard and soft from Project Runway and other places so I wanted to play with that idea.  The fabric and design of this blouse is obviously very soft and flowing, so I made the cuffs contrasting in black.  The original cuffs on this pattern are extremely large and ugly.  These are exactly half the size of the pattern cuffs, and I much prefer these daintier sized ones.  Also, I tried to pick a fairly neutral button for this blouse.  I'm prone to making the buttons the stars on a blouse, but this fabric is already so busy, I though it just needed a simple button.



So there it is, my newest creation, and my entry into the Fitted Blouse Contest.  I really wasn't sure how I felt about it until my husband took the pictures.  They all looked pretty good, no bad shots, and I think it's a pretty cute top on me!  The scarf collar makes it a tad impractical, but it doesn't LOOK silly.   I have this weird attraction to scarf collars it seems.  :)