Pintucks

I'd seen a lovely white blouse while I was out shopping a while ago and fallen quite in love with it, but somehow because it was made from such a simple cotton I felt too guilty to part with so much money when I knew that I could at least attempt to replicate it in some way. I never feel that way about buying jeans or knits (thankfully)...but somehow cotton always foxes me into feeling this way now. Happily my local fabric shop had this lovely dobby cotton and so I made this top last month and wore it quite a lot before the weather turned cool again.

The fabric very much dictated the style of the blouse - its sheerness meant that I'd either have to line any top that I made, or create some sort of feature to thicken the fabric over the bust. Lined tops never feel quite as lovely to wear somehow, so I decided to create some pintucks and designed the rest of the top around that. The pintucking ended up working just as I'd hoped and dignity is preserved and the gathering at the front means that no tummy buttons are on display either.

Finished pintucks on the left, lines waiting to tucked on the right.

Pintucks can be troublesome to make and, for me, their success or failure has always been dependent on how visible my markings are on the fabric while I'm working on them. I used the Frixion pen that I mentioned in this post and the thin, clear lines that I was able to make with it helped so much.

Muslin toile

You may be shocked to learn that I actually made a muslin for this top (shocked, because once I've decided to make something I normally just want to get on with it, so this is rare for me). Irritatingly, I made no changes at all, apart from the sleeve length, but it was good to test out my voile weight muslin for future reference and find that it felt very...voiley.

The sleeve is gathered at the cuff and then bound with a strip of dobby bias. I finished the neckline in the same way (although without the gathering).

My favourite thing about this top though is that my husband says that he thinks it's the nicest thing that I've ever made for myself. But alas...I whipped up another late one evening in one of my favourite fabric prints ever and we both agreed that I look like a gargoyle with a mass of pattern near my face. I think that if I de-sleeve it and lower the neckline so that the intensity of the pattern is diluted by some (pasty white) skin then perhaps it can be salvaged...we'll see.

In other news: Susan & Adrianna of Crafterhours very kindly invited me to write a guest blog post for them all about skirts to celebrate the start of their two week skirt fest. You can find my blog post here and you can find rules for entry here - you have until June 15th to make a last minute entry and I should implore you to do so as there are some fabulous prizes to be had...as well as the glory, which is of course the main thing. I will be on their panel of judges too - hurrah and as will become apparent if you read my post for them, have been scouring the Flickr pools for inspiration for my own sewing. I had also meant to blog about Made by Rae's long-gone Spring Tops week too (which I also judged - it's all over now, but there's so much top goodness to be found in the Flickr pools for that) but my blogging ended up being thin on the ground last month and somehow it didn't happen. Ho hum...hopefully my poor attendance rate here will improve for a good end of term report.

Happy mid week to you,
Florence x