A 30s blouse victory

I decided now that my serger was up and running to go on and knock out a project that I have been wanting to do for some time.

As you all remember, when I was doing a mock up for my jeans, I intended on using them for jimjam bottoms and I wanted to go on and try out my 30s blouse repro for the jimjam top.

Well, I went on and did it.

I just love a pile of cut and prepped cotton chambray all waiting for the serger. It still amazes me how something like this, a pile of cut pieces will be a garment of some kind soon.

Serging (yay) the pieces took no time. Once that was out of the way I prepped the gathered pieces with a basting stitch and set those aside.

The blouse has a front button up placket. This was something I had never rightly done with much success. It's a very masculine type of blouse. I think that was on purpose. The fact that it's an over blouse and has a belt adds to the femininity of the look. In any case, this is for sleeping in, I think...so I was willing to make mistakes on it.

I ironed the front placket, pressing down the seam allowances. I didn't press in the allowance on the back fold of the placket. I didn't know how straight I was gonna be able to sew this thing, and I might need the extra fabric that that allows. Next I sewed closed the top part of the placket, sans the seam allowance. That was folded in, and any bulk was clipped away.

I then did the button holes on the front placket. This was the only time I can recall that I added button holes *before* I finished a garment.

I generally don't like to add finishings before the garment is complete because of all the alterations I tend to make. This time it was the only way I could do it because I don't think that I would have been able to get that button hole down there at the point!

For the under placket (both cut from the same piece) I snipped off the point and folded it under. I sewed that to the side of the blouse first and it went on like a champ. That was in part to my Gute thread and the fact that this cotton behaves like paper. Its wonderful.

I matched up the front placket to the markings and stitched it as the instructions said.
No problem.

Until I tried it on.

This is a prime example of what I mean when I say my upper bust is small for my size. See how the placket completely overlaps itself. There is in excess 2" up there that I'll have to get rid of. I marked the placement for the placket against my neck, opened the side stitches and figgled with the placket until I got it laying straight.

That's a lot of fabric off the front. If I had known it was going to be that drastic I would have increased the gathers at the yoke. I'll have to do that on the next one because if I alter it this way I'll be doing something funky with stripage if I decide to use that type of fabric.

The whole alteration, from cutting to repositioning took all of ten minutes. I was happy about that. Once I was done (I just folded back the excess fabric and repositioned the placket) I attached the sleeves and collar.

I did make a blunder on the collar. Well, one for me anyway. The collar attaches with a top stitch all the way around. Well, as I'm sure most of you all know, Mama don't like topstitching, but I had to do some for this one in any case. I attached the under collar first then sewed on the top of the collar. It was that meeting point in the center of the placket that I was concerned about. I started stitching about an inch inside from the start of the seam and I went back and hand tacked that part down.

It's a much cleaner look, but I wish I had paid more attention. I overlapped the collar just a hair too much and I'm getting fold over. Again, not a big deal to some, and because this is my first go at this pattern, totally not a big deal, but I now know that I left open too much seam allowance when I was stitching that collar on.

The rest of the blouse, because it's cut on the fold, was a cakewalk to put together. I did 3/4 sleeves because it's gonna be a night shirt and I also deepened the armholes a bit for that reason. I do really like it and I totally see this in a velvet or a patterned linen.

So now I have some complete pajamas! Yay! As for my wool crepe 30s dress, it's nearly complete. I'm letting it hang for a couple of days to let the fabric lay better. I just have to add the sleeves. For some reason I was just intrigued by the notion of slow sewing, like the slow food movement, and I do that anyway, I guess I'm just fast at it. But I do like the idea of crafting a garment rather than making one and even with this tester I wanted to have the same level of finishing as I would on any of my other garments.

Well...I did do one quick cheat.
I machine stitched my hems on the blouse and the sleeves. Eh, I'll let that go.

9 comments:

  1. LOVE this blouse! Great placket and back details!!!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Really cool top. I'd wear it as daywear, not just pyjamas!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Great blouse, your attention to detail is phenomenal.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Lovely blouse! I like a lot read your blog because you do a great job and I like you show pictures of the process.
    I have a question, how or who do your drawings?? because your drawings are exactly the clothes you sew.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Well done! Looks too good to wear as pajamas!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Thanks all!
    The pattern is very simple and went together so easily. It's easier to visualize now that it's been made up. I want to make one in a cotton velvet.

    Lizzy, I do all the drawings you see on my blog and site. My profile explains it all :)

    ReplyDelete
  7. That is such a cool blouse. Too good to be worn as a pajama ;-)

    ReplyDelete

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