We spent three and a half days in the studio. One of the projects I worked on is a Burda 6323 blouse. I liked the flared hemline of view A but not the sleeves or the collar so I substituted three quarter sleeves and created a stand-up collar from selvedge scraps.
The curved yoke in the back is hard to see with this print. The fabric is a very soft cotton with lovely drape, a paisley design which is my favourite, and some "splotching" to add variation. I'm interested to see how long it will take for someone to ask me what happened to my blouse - LOL - since it's happened before with splotched fabric. The front also has curved yoke seams. I changed the more complicated button band to a simple one.
Here is a side view of the collar. This change was definitely inspired by Diane Ericson and the Design Outside The Lines retreats. I have learned so much from attending them that makes sewing creative fashions an even greater joy.
Things I learned from both Marcy (who taught at the first two retreats I went to) and Diane were to adapt the pattern to work for me and to not feel like I had to sew it exactly as printed as well as to mix up fabrics and to create my own details. For this collar, I cut and interfaced a strip of fabric equal to the collar opening and then randomly pleated strips of the selvedge edge equal to that length.
One layer was a bit too thin so I created two layers with the outer one slightly wider than the inner one and sewed them to the garment with the wrong sides together. The softness of both the pleats and of the sevedge edge creates a lovely finish to the neckline that IMHO is much nicer than the harsh roundness of the original with that stiffly buttoned-up look.
Last week when I was at the fabric store, this cotton print would not leave me alone. I tried to walk away a few times and it kept calling don't leave me. It's partly the colours but also something about the bold softness of the design. Apparently, it had called out to a few other people as well since there was only 1.20 meters left - enough for something - so it's now sitting in stash gestating.
Before I sewed the blouse, I worked with the remnants from the Burda 7400 pants and used up all the leftover little bits and pieces. The ones without interfacing were sewn into two rectangles - one 26 1/2" x 15" and the other 23 1/4" x 18" - that will most likely be used to create bags and the...
... ones with interfacing were shaped into textile cabachons that I'll experiment with for jewelry. There is some of this fabric left only it's in yardage lengths rather than remnants and is back in stash waiting to become another garment.
After watching me spend almost two days piecing these bits together, my friend commented that no wonder I didn't get a lot of clothing sewn since chasing remnants was quite a rabbit hole. So true. I have a pile of them left from the blouse that would be delightful in jewelry especially with silver instead of copper accents. What can I do with these remnants is a rabbit hole I'm happy to go down. I'm still so thrilled to find uses for things I would have quickly thrown away at one time and I love exploring the journey of the unknown and seeing where it takes me. It's become common in my studio. I can take that journey with fabric remnants as well as wire and metal ones any time I want to because I have plenty of potential in my studio and I'm rather addicted to it - LOL.
Talk soon - Myrna
Grateful - a fun visit with a friend
This is so pretty. I love what you did with the collar. Did you use a pin to get that slightly frayed effect?
ReplyDeleteThanks. The edge is the selvedge of the fabric which worked great because it had that fray but was also stabilized. One of my instructors taught me to look carefully at the selvedges because they often have great bits & pieces for personalizing a piece.
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