Reusing a Favourite Pattern x2

I didn't join #MeMadeMay this year and one of the reasons, as I mentioned in my previous post, was that I knew I'd have guests for two weeks and that I'd be offline and out of the sewing room for most of that time. 

The guests were my Mom and younger sister, and we had a marvellous time together. It was great fun showing them around my town and its surrounding area; we drove all over the place, ate out constantly, and did shopping, shows, and staycationing to the max. (well, at least for me it was a staycation).

But one of the other things I did was make a blouse for my Mom while she was here. The first day she tried on one of my tops -- the True Bias Sutton Blouse -- and loved it. So I offered to make her one, as it fit perfectly and I wouldn't need to make any fitting adjustments, thus thought it would be quite achievable in a week. And it was. 

She picked a nice drapey fabric out of my stash; I believe it was a rayon challis though I'm not 100% sure. It was a gift to me from a friend's mother who was clearing out her own stash, along with about 10 other pieces of varied fabrics. I received it and washed it a couple of days before the visit, and then it went home with my Mom as a finished blouse. Never has a piece of fabric entered and left the stash so quickly - it must be a record! 

The top went together so quickly and easily. The only issue is that I think I slightly stretched the neckline when attaching the bias binding, but probably only me and other sewists would notice at all. The construction notes can be found on the post detailing the first time I made this -- I just made it the same way, though even faster this time as I did not include any piping or trim in the yoke seams. 

Here it is:

The week before they got here I also finished up a couple of summer tops. Here is one I made from an old favourite, KwikSew 3559. I love this dress-into-top; I think it's my fourth rendition. Nothing too new for this one, which I made from a remnant I couldn't resist buying.

I had to be creative with the layout though, to fit all the pieces, which really made the top in the end. It was a 60" wide piece that was just a metre, so I folded it just enough to fit front and back on it, and then cut the yoke lengthwise on the remaining edge.

Since it was most stretchy lengthwise, that worked very well for the design and for the visuals. I love the contrast direction of the stripes in this shimmery green. Otherwise it would have been impossible to match up the stripes and would have driven me mad! 

Do you have a fave pattern that you use and reuse? I love finding a simple standard to fall back on when you want something in a hurry, especially when you have a special fabric that you want to make sure works out!

Truly Biased about this Sutton Blouse!

I spent some time sewing this weekend, getting a few projects done...here's looking at you, PR Weekend red Eleonore pull-on jeans! But that's a discussion for later...

Today I want to talk about this True Bias Sutton blouse that I started and finished in the last couple of days, and immediately wore today after hemming it late last night.

I've had the Sutton Blouse pattern for a little while now -- I first began to covet it after the Sew Mama Sew Super Online Sewing Match revealed a whole bunch of inspirational versions. I traced my pdf pattern a few weeks back now, without noting the size I was tracing -- I didn't feel like getting the pdf pages out again tonight, so I'll just tell you that I think it was a size 12 or 14 that I chose, and I did grade out at the hips about an inch. This fits me very well.

The Sutton Blouse requires a drapey, fluid fabric, and it uses French seams for nearly all the finishing. It looks gorgeous inside and out. But for these reasons, it is noted as an intermediate level sewing project.

I was using a polyester faille (I think it's faille; I know it is poly) which I found at the thrift store a few weeks ago. When I saw it I immediately thought of this pattern and knew it was time to try it. And finally I got around to it this weekend. The fabric is perfect because it is very fluid indeed - it doesn't take to pinning and pressing all that well, and was a bit of a bear to sew, being so slidey-aroundy. But slow and sure always works, and I was lucky with it, as I said on twitter earlier:

Whew - tricky fabric & end of seam...bobbin thread ran out an inch AFTER the end, not before #luckyday #sewrelieved pic.twitter.com/w0MtmHo491

— Melanie K (@sewmelwyk) May 2, 2016

Anyhow, the pattern is fairly simple, with a front, a back and a yoke, along with a bias strip to finish the neckline. I did not have a large enough piece of fabric to fit the bias strip as shown in the pattern layout, so just cut 1" bias strips from the shorter bit left over after the main pieces were cut, stitched them together and finished the neckline with that strip. As the neckline is finished before sewing the front together, and trimmed after attaching, that process worked just fine.

After I'd cut all these, I had a long strip left over from the edge of the fabric, so just stitched the two layers together to make a scarf that I can wear with this blouse or separately. The little bit of fabric that was left over was also made into bias tape, so every bit of this fabric was used!

As everyone who has made this has mentioned, the finishing details are marvellous. French seams  - which I used for the first time making this project, and now love; very clear instructions with illustrated steps, with a nice finishing step for the uneven front and back & side slit. It went together logically and really effectively. The only real changes I made were to lengthen the front by 1/2" and to shorten the back by 1/2" plus deepen the back hem slightly -- it was too long for my frame at first and made me look a bit oddly proportioned, but just taking up that inch at the back made all the difference.

Love that back yoke pleat

I also added in some black trim from my stash into the front yoke seams. I thought it would break up the pattern a bit, both to give the eye a focus point, and to mitigate any wobbly pattern match across that seam.

Here's the full shape of it on me, with black trim effect

And I wore it today, and loved it. It is comfortable to wear, but also feels dressier than a tunic or tee. It was perfect for work, as not only did I feel dressed up enough but the neckline (which I didn't change at all) does not gape and is plenty low enough for my tastes. Many others have lowered the neckline, but I usually end up shortening between shoulder and bust on many patterns, so it works just fine for me.

This is a wonderful pattern - I can see making a handful more to have in every colour! I really like the fit and the relaxed yet dressy style. I like it with the scarf added and I like it by itself. I'm now biased in favour of a wardrobe of True Bias Suttons.