Sewing Interruptus

It has taken me over 5 weeks to complete my latest sewing project due to a bad case of sewing interruptus - A disruption of the normal sewing process by external distractions. The distractions were good for the most part, a vacation and out of town technical conference, and some were even sewing related. A wonderfully inspiring two day workshop with Rami Kim creator of award winning Art to Wear garments,  plus I started a 8 week pattern drafting class that has significant homework. All this contributed to a slow pace on the blouse from Vogue pattern 1294.

The blouse is described as semi-fitted, and lined, with a back neck band, pleated flounce, front band with snap closing and very narrow hem. Contrast flounce and bias strip for side front/side back seams/sleeve hems. I used a mint color four ply silk from Fashionista Fabrics for the blouse itself, and a teal silk organza from G Street Fabrics for the contrast flounce and bias strip seam insertion trim.

Blouse Front

Blouse Back

The pattern is designed for light weight fabric that would require a lining. The lining finishes the neck edge. I did not line my blouse because the 4 ply silk was quite beefy, so I created my own facing for the front V neck. Bias cut raw edge strips are inserted in the princess seams as trim. I attached them to the side pieces with a three thread serger stitch which also finished the edges at the same time.

Inside Finish Details

There is an inset neck band on the blouse back and the flounce is folded and inserted into the shoulder seam of that band

Side view

The front closures are snaps and the directions recommend covering the snaps with the blouse fabric.  My fabric was heavier and this is a blouse, not a couture garment, so I chose to use clear heat resistant nylon snaps. The recommended snap placement was a bit unusual. Instead of being evenly spaced down the placket, the three top snaps are located closer together in area where the flounce is sewn to the placket. The closer spacing certainly prevents any gaps in this area. I made a mental note of this for future use. I know I tend to blindly follow the sewing "rules" or standard practices, even when a more creative or unusual solution would be more effective.

Snap Spacing

The pants are made from wool polyester blend twill purchased at Mary-Jo’s Fabrics in NC. My pants are a very similar style to the Vogue pattern but are actually made using a pattern I created by taking apart a pair of well-fitting RTW pants. I compared my pattern to the Vogue pant pattern. The waist band and leg width were exact duplicates. The difference was that my copied RTW pattern already reflected the changes I make to remove excess fabric from the butt and upper thigh area of commercial patterns. I have a piece of boucle fabric that I hope to make into a coordinating jacket and a couple pieces of blouse fabric that coordinate with the pants.

The yard is full of wonderful scents this time of year.  In the flower beds, the sweet william's, confederate jasmine and an extremely fragrant old rose, rescued from an abandoned farm house in  MD, are blooming.  In the field behind the house,  honeysuckle and some sort of scrubby white flowering tree were competing for olfactory attention.   I took the pictures there to enjoy the scents.

 Looking at the pictures, I have decided the pants need more tweaking and I should shorten the blouse by an inch or two if I plan to wear it as an over blouse. It’s bottom edge is cutting my body in half. I prefer the 1/3 top, 2/3 bottom proportions for tops worn out.