Monday 29 April 2013

It's a Mad Mad World, Man!

Stash busting 2013:  The Retro Blouse, Project #20

Fabric Used:       1.60 metres of 100% cotton sateen and 1 metre of interfacing.

Buttons Used:     Six frosted pink buttons

Pattern Used:      Burda Style 7255, I've had this pattern since last year.

*****

First, I'm apologizing for the gawd awful photo. I look like death and a bad hair day all rolled into one. Don't worry, I'm not fishing for compliments, I feel that way too. I'm just going with it.

Now that we have that out of the way, I have to tell you that this pattern has sat in my stash teasing me. I love the illustrations on the front of the pattern envelope but I questioned if I wanted to makes something that seemed a bit trendy with all the whoopla over Mad Men fashions. It is just not my style. But the illustrations were so damn cute. Yeah, I don't understand why I bought the pattern either.  

Moving along, I saw Debi's version recently and it was the push that I needed to re-consider this pattern. Her post has links to other versions of this blouse as well. 

"This might work," I thought to myself. 

I do love the curved collar that Debi described. It sounded like the one that worked well on the Center of Pattern Design Spiral Top and this pattern has the same style of collar.

"What the heck, why not give it a try," I thought to myself as I scanned the piles of fabric in my stash.  

Inspired by Rike's version, I knew I wanted a print. And do I have the perfect fabric. It is floral (check me out, I'll be on trend this spring!) and better yet it is a screen print fabric with soil and stain repellent finish. This is perfect! If I spill my coffee (wine, dinner, fill in whatever), I won't have to whip out my Tide stick stain remover. Gawd, I love this fabric.

I found it in the home decor section of my local fabric store. I know, I've been shopping in that section of the store a lot lately but it seems like the only place that you can find natural fabrics with fabulous prints. And I do love this print, much too fabulous to be fading in the sun somewhere as curtains.

Now lets talk about this blouse. Oh my goodness, I don't know why I didn't make this sooner! I think the tucks and pleat detail in the back are the cat's meow.  Debi is right, the sizing is spot on. I can't believe that I ended up with three-quarter length sleeves and I didn't even alter the sleeve pattern. The elbow dart is in the perfect spot too. The shoulders fit perfectly, I don't know what I could ask for besides... I could use a little more ease around my belly area or I could do some sit-ups when my back and neck heal up. Otherwise, this pattern is perfect. Despite that, I did lengthen the blouse a few inches.

The buttons have been in my stash for a few years. I'm not a frilly pink-lovin' kind of gal but I thought these buttons worked. It was a toss up between an ivory floral shape or an opaque button. The floral shaped button gave the blouse a homemade feel, not the look I was going for. And the opaque button was nice but just seemed too large on the cut of the blouse. Sew, the pink buttons won out. I think I can live with this colour choice. Besides, I really don't want to shop for more buttons.

That's how I ended up with a floral pink buttoned blouse. This pattern will go down as the most unexpected favourite from my pattern stash.

Happy Sewing!




1 comment:

  1. The blouse looks great on you - and what a wonderful fabric!

    ReplyDelete

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