Blouses

Because I wasn't sure whether the alterations would work, I didn't take photos of the tissue alteration process. But I will try and remember to do so next time because the alterations to the sleeve really do seem to have made a difference. Although I may not have got it perfect yet.

The first blouse was Marfy 1940 which has back and front princess seams, a collar (though I used only the collar stand this time) and the collar does not meet at the neckline, but lies slightly open all the time.

Additional alterations this time were:

Add three eighths to the centre back, and use a back seam instead of a "lie on fold" layout. The three eighths was added only as far as the upper back (above the point where the shoulder blades move) and at this point I tapered in to nothing then tapered further so that there was three eighths taken from the back neck as I have a very small neck. And yes, this does result in an odd shaped pattern piece.

Not sure quite how to explain the next bit; I don't need the extra amount that I added at the centre back once I get past my shoulder blades. However, the excess is added all the way down to make the back hang straight. So, the excess has to be removed again, in a different place in order to narrow the pattern to my measurements on the lower back, waist and hips. This is done by taking half an inch off the side seams at the hem, tapering to nothing about three inches above the waist, but then I drew out further by a quarter inch at the underarm. This last is to add extra width and reach room just under the armhole.

I had previously made alterations to the armhole to make that wider as well.

The sleeve was then altered by slashing the pattern almost into four pieces. This must be done on a board you can pin the pattern to otherwise disaster can easily strike. Also best to do this on a table if you have a curious animal in your home that might (will!) walk on the pattern just after you slashed it all up. The instructions I followed are in Fit for Real People by Pati Palmer and Marta Alto and the diagrams are on Page 169.

So, draw a vertical line down the centre of your sleeve. (tip, transfer a grain line parallel to the line you draw and to one side, because this alteration will probably cut through the grain line on the pattern and you will lose the grain line).

Square across to draw a horizontal line across your sleeve where the sleeve cap ends and the sleeve starts (the underarm).

Clip almost but not quite to the seam allowance line at each of the four ends of the lines. Don't clip through though, these will be your hinges on which your pattern will open. Now, cut on the lines you drew almost to the seam line (leave your hinge in place).

Now, super carefully, open up the vertical line so that the underarms spread apart. I did mine on a board that has a grid of three quarter inch squares and I opened mine up three quarters of an inch at the underarm/widest point of opening. Pin the opening where it needs to be held. Note that the area where you cut horizontally will lap over. This is what is supposed to happen.

When everything is flat and lovely, pin the overlapped bit into place. Now put tissue over (or under it if you have been more organised than I was and altered over a strip of tissue) and stick it down. Stick down your overlap bits. And voila. Hopefully, an altered sleeve that is slightly wider but has not had its sleeve cap changed. It still fit in the armhole very nicely when I did it. If anything, it reduced the ease just enough that I could get the sleeve in with minimal fussing, swearing and tweaking.

And this is the resulting blouse. Which I wore all day yesterday, whilst cutting out and sewing blouse two, and doing some cooking, and some knitting, and other general tasks necessary in the home; and the blouse did not annoy me once. Although I did discover that the shirt needed two inches adding to the hem length and one and a half inches to the sleeve length, but that was very easily altered.

Now, blouse number two. Not an unqualified success story. You may think it looks familiar because I've used the fabric before.

This is Marfy 0187, which is the free tunic blouse from this year's catalogue though I made mine shorter. It has a bust dart and shaped side seams, but otherwise its just a plain blouse. I've added a back seam since I did all the same alterations as mentioned above to this second shirt. I used the exact same altered sleeve. Indeed, the altered sleeve belonged to this pattern technically, even though I did use it on the previous pattern too. So with great confidence, I forged ahead with the second shirt. And finished it late last night. And tried it on. And wanted to spit/scream/swear. Whilst it was better than the previous version (striped, dogs breakfast garment mentioned last week and never photographed for fear of breaking the camera), it wasn't as comfortable as the 1940 shirt. This pulled on the sleeves and slightly on the back. So, I rang a sewing friend to whine about it. Then went to bed and tried not to think about it. And this morning, I let the back seam out a quarter inch (total half an inch) since I didn't feel like being beaten by a bit of cloth. I wore it today, to see if I was just being hyper aware of the blouse's faults because I'd been working on it/them for so long. And you know, whilst its not quite as good as the spotted one, it was wearable enough that I forgot about it for hours at a time. I'm wearing it now, and its fine. I've baked cakes, driven fifty miles, walked around a shopping centre and tried on coats whilst wearing it. Its probably fine. And whilst I did find it pulled badly when I tried to get things off the top shelf in the kitchen, I would imagine that to be reasonably normal.

So, I am claiming 1940 as a success and claiming 0187 as a cautious, "tweak as you go but probably safe to make in fabric you like".

Having said that. I really do wish I knew why one worked better than the other. I guess the only way to really know is to make them both in the same fabric, then I can rule out fabric misbehaviour.