Fresco Blouse in Cobalt Blue

I put the Fresco Blouse by Studio Calicot onto my MakeNine list in 2023 so it was time to finally make this pretty pattern! With the additional impetus of the #SewAprilBlouse24 challenge on Instagram, I got it finished just before the end of the April -- the evening of the 30th to be exact ;) 

I really like it -- I decided to use this cobalt rayon from my stash as it is very fl9uid. It was the perfect weight for this flowy pattern. This is quite an easy pattern, except for the fabric handling when you are using a slippery rayon challis. There is a front and back piece, a neckline tie, and a shoulder placket for buttons so you can get it over your head. It all went together very nicely; just remember to turn your necktie piece right side out before you sew it on...

It is a soft, roomy, and pretty top. I might shorten it a bit as I am pretty short and I'm not sure I like it ending at the widest part of my hip. However, I am going to try it tucked it with a couple of skirts and see if I like it that way. If not, I think I'll take another inch off the length. 

The shoulder button placket takes 2 small buttons, just enough to give you room to slip it over your head. The tie takes a little finagling to get right, as you want it to fall nicely. But it's a relatively quick make and certainly a comfortable wear. I like the 80s aesthetic of a lot of her designs and this one is easy and fun. Very pleased that I finally made a version of this! 

I AM Barbara in Skull & Crossbones

I've had this project in mind for a few months, and with a weekend of intense sewing, managed to get it made in time for my Halloween workwear! 

The I AM Barbara blouse caught my eye a while back - I don't have anything like it; it was the flounces that interested me. I like the ones with the least flounce to them, and thought that this fabric was a perfect match to this design. I bought it with this project in mind, and happily it all came together just as nicely as I'd imagined in my head! 

The fabric was originally a 100% cotton IKEA sheet, which I bought at the Goodwill. When I saw it, it looked like a repeated print in black & white, which fits into my wardrobe parameters. But when I looked a little closer, I saw that it is tiny skull & crossbones. How delightful! 

And, the fabric is very soft and light, so I thought that a double layer, like in the Barbara blouse, would work well with it. It wouldn't be too bulky, and it would also be a bit more wearable if two layers make it a tiny bit less transclucent. 

I really enjoyed sewing this, even if I was pushing myself to finish it. The instructions were clear, even with some fussy bits like the front hidden placket piece.

I ended up not doing it perfectly but close enough to wear and be functional - that's all I ask! I also made a small boo-boo on one cuff, which buttons the opposite way to the other, but that's easily fixable but removing and replacing that cuff. I will do that at some point ;) 

I cut a 42/44 with a little more width at the hip/hem. And I had to shorten the sleeve by 5/8", which meant also shortening the flounces. I didn't take any length off the body of the blouse, in fact I added 1/2" to the bottom to give me more hem allowance. I think that it's just right. 

I used flat black buttons for the placket, but used 4 hole buttons for the collar and cuffs (the visible buttons) so that I could stitch them on in an X pattern using white thread, to echo the print. I really love everything about this! 

The fabric is so soft to wear, and works really well with this design. The only slight drawback is that it needs a lot of pressing! I love it and am so glad I pushed to get it done. This is an interesting design that I enjoyed making, and I also love the fabric a lot. 

Pivoine Blouse for the Literary Sewing Circle

When I was thinking about projects for this round of the Literary Sewing Circle, I kept coming back to the Pivoine Blouse by Delphine & Morrissette.

I have owned this blouse pattern for quite a while and always intended to make one, so now is the time. As I said in an inspiration post, Pivoine is French for Peony, so we are nodding both to Peony the cat and to Miss Judson's French background with this pattern. The fabric I chose is an alphabetical novelty print (actually a sheet originally), so it is also reflective of the entire writing world, I'd say.

There are many versions of this blouse in many fabrics, but I thought that this crisp polycotton would give a boxier look to the blouse - which I wanted. I had just enough left from a previous project using this sheet to fit all the pieces of this blouse pattern onto. I wanted to be sure that the letters ran across the top evenly, on the same plane, and that the cuffs were also vertical (which necessitated cutting them on the cross grain). 

This pattern is all in French, and while my French is basic, I only had to search a few words and instructions on Google Translate to be sure I was doing things correctly. There is a good photo laden blog post about the construction of this blouse on Delphine & Morrissette's site, which was also helpful, mostly to be sure I was getting the seam allowances right and doing things in a good order. 

Otherwise I just depended on my sewing experience to help me along. This was actually quite an easy sew, not many tricky bits at all. I used my trusty 1/4" quilting foot to help me get even edgestitching on the button placket and collar band. Then I searched through all 5 of my button tins to try to find a good match for this fabric. I had a basic white shirt button in mind, but when I saw all of my random one-off buttons that just seemed to match the colours in the fabric so well, I made a decision to use multicolour buttons. They are all nearly the same size, so I just made all the buttonholes based on the mid-sized one (the largest was infinitesimally bigger, and the smallest just a hair smaller) and that worked out okay. I worked out my own button placement so I ended up using 8 buttons rather than the 7 called for in the pattern.

I am really pleased with the cute summer feel of this blouse, and I do love a good alphabet print. This is light and floaty and goes with a lot in my wardrobe. I think I'd make this blouse again, maybe in a drapier fabric for a really different look. I enjoyed sewing this while thinking about Myrtle's adventures in Premeditated Myrtle and all the following titles in the series. I hope everyone else participating in this round of the Literary Sewing Circle also enjoyed both the reading and the sewing!