Yesterday, I was working and Howard was home. Mid morning, I glanced up to see my husband walking through the female dominated world of a fabric store with a single rose in a bud vase. Apparently, he had many volunteers to be Myrna on his way through. Too fun. I came home to a dozen red roses which I'll take to work today and leave. The "girls" may as well enjoy them while I'm away.
Last night, I did laundry. Tonight I'll pack. This time, I remembered to hang my favourite jeans up to dry so hopefully they'll relax a little bit from their wiggle in, ease out, status. I did pull across the thighs while the denim was wet just in case that might help.
You might have noticed that I rarely wear and never sew blouses. I never seem to make one that feels comfortable for any length of time. Even so, I picked a few from Anthropologie for inspiration. What they have in common is a soft fabric and a shaped side seam. Nothing is button-up fitted.
I think a casual blouse might be the same as a sweater whereas a button up blouse is the same as a fitted jacket in comfort factor for me. One feels like me and the other not. I like the idea of a blouse, and I used to wear them years ago, so I'll keep trying with a focus on soft fabrics and waist shaping.
Freckled - $98.00 - is a sheer georgette with ruffles. It sounds far too fluffy for me even though I like the soft shaping. Georgette isn't a fabric I enjoy sewing with although I do have some in stash. Perhaps I should use it to try out this style.
When I first looked at the Connection Shell - $68.00 - in navy, it looked a lot more sophisticated. Click through to the site and you'll see what I mean. In the green, it's easy to see the horrendous sewing. Good thing that we can draft and sew a much better version if we want to. This blouse is described as cotton spandex poplin which sounds stiff. It's the tie that gives it the shaping. I don't see why I couldn't do a similar version in something even softer. One feature...
... I really like is the ballerina neckline in front combined with the lower V neckline in back. It's a bit of a surprise. Interesting how the zipper ends all puckered and pointed. What's with that ? ? ?
I bet the reason I liked the Buttondown Cowlneck - $88.00 - is because it's silk with a soft drapey look about it. Again, I don't like sewing with silk. It's way too slippery to be fun. And... even so... I might need to learn how to work with it in order to wear blouses because this is the type of buttoned up blouse I might like. Isn't the collar a fun variation? Maybe sand washed silk?
I'm off to work. Another full eight hours. Yesterday went quite well. My feet are adjusting. It wasn't as busy as the last few weeks have been. There was enough time to put the bolts back and to clear out the mess from under my cutting table. Lots of discount fabric went to the bargain section and a whole lot of remnants were rolled up and priced. I even got to dust the cutting surface and the shelf underneath. Bet I don't get that table again today - LOL ! I left my rose on it. I'll move it wherever I'm going and put the dozen up by the till for everyone to enjoy.
Talk soon - Myrna
Grateful - loving gestures
How very sweet of Howard to bring you a rose at work!
ReplyDeleteAs far as sewing blouses from silk, I have had great success using the technique of starching my slippery rayons and silks before sewing them. Of course, that means that they need to be washed first, since they'll need to have the starch washed out at the end. But since I do not want to have clothes in my closet that cannot be washed, that is no problem for me. Starching makes the slippery fabric handle like stiff quilting cotton, so sewing is EASY, yet once the starch is gone the fabric reverts to a comfortable drapey hand which is much more graceful.
I'd guess that the puckery bits at the bottom of the zipper in the green blouse have to do with where quality control draws the line - since most of the clothing sold at Anthropologie is sewn in China/Bangladesh/etc not in North America. The clothing in their stores is interesting to look at but never particularly well made.
IMHO " the puckery bits at the bottom of the zipper" appear to be the result of inserting a zipper without a back seam. It looks to me as though they put the zipper in a dart-like opening which resulted in some back shaping, perhaps saved a little fabric, and left puckers (which maybe could not be pressed out or maybe they did not try to press out the wrinkles.
ReplyDeleteThank you for these! I too dislike the button up blouse. I feel too stiff and confined, and I don't feel they are my style at all. These blouses, however, are a different look from the sweater style I tend to favor, but have a nice style to them.
ReplyDeleteIt's interesting to note that on the navy version of the wrap front top the zipper seems to be put in much bigger. Of course, I'm sure the color helps to hide some flaws, but the zoom in seems to have the fabric lying much flatter.