Sunday, March 02, 2008

Basic blouse progress

It's been slow-going, but I feel like I really made progress this weekend. I'm really liking this blouse. The fabric is an oxford cloth and it is really soft, but has some body to it. It kind of reminds me of chambray shirts. This project has involved a lot of firsts for me. First of all, there are the flat-felled seams. The one on the sleeve was difficult because you had to sew all the way down the "tube" of the sleeve. It still turned out pretty good I think.


Another first was binding the sleeve-bodice seam with silk organza. This really gives a nice finish to the sleeve seam. I sewed this on by hand.



I don't recall ever making a long sleeved shirt with cuffs, so I'm sure that the sleeve placket was a first too. I liked this method (continuous) but BWOF gave a good tip of sewing a mitered seam at the top. This little quarter inch of sewing makes a big difference in the way the sleeve vent looks.


I also changed the back of the yoke. On the muslin, I did not line/face the yoke, so it was much easier to make the point. Also, I did not use flat felled seams on the muslin. Using this type of seam made it almost impossible to make the point in the yoke. I tried and ripped out about 3 times and then finally changed it to a curve. I'm not exactly thrilled with how it turned out, but it's liveable. I will have to redraft the pattern to reflect this curve and then it should come out a little better - at least I hope it will.


All I really have left to do is the pocket, hem, and buttons & buttonholes. I think the pocket may take a little work, but the rest will be easy. Almost there!

8 comments:

LauraLo said...

I love all these details, Nancy, I think your blouse is going to turn out just gorgeous. What a lovely shade of green too

Sigrid said...

Lovely blouse, and your seam on the sleeve is not "pretty good", it's perfect! The white on top of the sleeve, is that interfacing?

Elaray said...

The blouse is looking really good. The details in this shirt really add a lot of style.

Nancy Winningham said...

Thanks for all of your encouragement.
yes, the white at the top is interfacing. This is the first time I have put it at the sleeve on a blouse, but Shannon Gifford recommends it. I like the effect.

Maureen said...

This is a first...I actually have made a shirt with cuffs...ta da!

Tho I'm fairly certain they did not look as nice as yours...really liking this blouse Nancy, but which green is the correct one?

Nancy Winningham said...

L know every green looks different! On my monitor, it's kind of a cross between the second and fourth pictures. A little more saturation than the pictures of the hand sewing, but not quite as bright as the bottom picture.

Summerset said...

Wow - that flat felled seam looks perfect!

cidell said...

I went digging and digging and digging and I think I found my flat fell foot. Which I had no idea I owned! I finally found it last night. I was so inspired by this post!