sewing: waterfall blouse
I’m walking the virtual catwalk today in my new waterfall blouse for the Make It Perfect Pattern Parade.
I’ve had my eye on this pattern for ages, so I was excited to be handed the perfect excuse to do some selfish sewing. perhaps I was a bit too exited, because I dove right in with the good fabric when really I should have taken the time to (say it with me) MAKE A MUSLIN! so, what you see here is my second version which is really a wearable muslin. because, yes, I also waited until the last minute.
(fyi, blouse shown with double cotton juba shorts for women.)
there’s a laundry list of things I did wrong with this pattern, and I thought I’d share. just call it a PSA, because friends don’t let friends make crazy sewing mistakes!
one. I had some troubles with printing and aligning the PDF, but instead of taking the time to get everything right, I just pushed forward and ended up with pattern pieces that didn’t line up. of note: I think perhaps I’d benefit from keeping some A4 paper on hand. does anyone do that? can you get it in the US? *ahem* should I just do my own google search?
two. I decided to just wing a sway back adjustment without making the aforementioned muslin. I highly recommend against such silliness.
three. for my body shape, I found this pattern to run small (again, would have found this out with a muslin). I made the size XL per my measurements (42″ bust), but it was too tight at the my upper bust for a comfortable fit, which also made the sleeves all kinds of crazy. personally, I’m not convinced that dolman sleeves really ever work with a woven fabric, what with that extra fabric getting all wrinkly under the arms, and making the wrong size certainly exacerbates that issue.
four. I’m not sure exactly where the error occurred, but in my original version, the back piece and back yoke ended up with too much fabric where they met, which caused an interesting protrusion at the back of my shirt. honestly, rather than try to determine what exactly happened, I just redrafted the top curve of the back piece based on the yoke piece I had already cut out. I ended up removing about 1.5″ from the top of that pattern piece (which, incidentally, meant that I didn’t need a sway back adjustment after all!) and that solved the problem.
all of that said, I took my time with the pattern while making this second version and had much better results. I made the same size as the first, but used a knit fabric (from Girl Charlee) to allow for some stretch. of course, the universe wasn’t going to let me out of this project easily. I used about 2.5 yards of fabric to make this second top because I cut the front and back yoke pieces incorrectly at least twice each. at that point, I just had to laugh, because… really?
one additional edit I made to this version was to bring in the neckline about 1.5″ on each side because the original neckline was far too wide on me. plus, I’m way too lazy to hide bra straps for any neckline, ha!
all in all, I’m a fan of this second version of the shirt and it is super comfy and easy to wear. I do think there will be more versions in my future, probably also in knit, with maybe a few minor tweaks here and there.
The Make It Perfect Pattern Parade Virtual Catwalk introduces…
A Happy Stitch // A Lemon Squeezy Home // Behind the Hedgerow
Craftiness is not Optional // Craftstorming // Cut Cut Sew
DoGuincho // Film in the Fridge // Girl Like the Sea
Horris & Deedle // Glitter Wit // Imagine Gnats
Janelle Wind // Made with Moxie // Miss Matatabi
No Big Dill // Noodlehead // Probably Actually
Sanae Ishida // Sew Charleston // Sewing in No Man’s Land
Skirt as Top // Stitched Together // The Drapery
Things for Boys // Zaaberry
the lessons I’ve learned here are to slow down, pay attention to details, make a muslin, and don’t wait until the last minute. let’s just not discuss how many times before I’ve allegedly learned those same lessons, mmmkay?
so, tell me… have you had any recent sewing projects that just didn’t go as planned?
happy stitching!
xo, rachael
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