Sewing for Me: IKEA blouse
I’ve been saving a breathtakingly beautiful and expensive white linen for years, but I couldn’t cut into it for this project. I knew I wanted white, and it most definitely had to be linen, but I was afraid I might make an irreparable mistake and I wasn’t sure if I could handle that in my current frazzled state. I am nothing if not resourceful, and out of the corner of my eye, I spotted our little closet that houses bedsheets and toiletries. I remembered that I had an IKEA linen duvet that always drove me nuts because the ties never stayed in the designated holes. It was satisfying to snip apart the duvet, and it turned out to be the perfect choice because the duvet’s been washed so often the linen is lusciously soft and drape-y. I have enough to make at least two more tops, or maybe even a dress for K.
The pattern is from this book, and I made a few modifications, mainly to speed things up. I cut the size 11 (roughly equivalent to a medium) and here’s what I changed:
- Ignored the bust dart. The position looked all wrong for me, and I didn’t really want any shaping.
- Also ignored the side slits. According to the pattern pieces, they went up almost up to my belly button, and due to the sheerness of the top, I figured I’d want to wear a cami tank underneath which would have looked odd with the side slits/vents.
- I didn’t set in the sleeve, but used my cheater method of attaching the sleeves before sewing up the side seams of the bodice. Like this.
Because of these changes, from initial tracing to completed top took me about an hour and a half. I love me a quick project! The hardest part was attaching the very thin ties. My regular foot needs more fabric width to keep things moving, so I’ve recently acquired an extremely handy teflon foot that’s meant for “sticky” fabrics like leather and laminated textiles, but I’m finding it pretty useful for knits and thin bias tapes too. I’m still experimenting with it, so I’ll let you know if I change my mind about its usefulness.
Today and tomorrow, I’m shooting the cover of my sewing book (and yes, I needed this top for the photo shoot)! I have the most incredible photo team — I’ll talk about them more in-depth later — and they’ve made the whole shebang so organized! Still, I always manage to make things harder for myself so it’s crazy town here in my house at this moment. Next week, I hope to be less scattered. Thank goodness for K hugs…they always make me feel less chaotic.
P.S. M’s birthday was awesome.
