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Bright Challis Blouse! (And Musings on a Cloak)

Thu, 10/27/2011 - 13:43 — Maggie

Pink Floral Butterick 4609 -- Front/SidePink Floral Butterick 4609 -- Front/Side
I have been sewing, I just haven't been writing!

I did another Butterick 4609 blouse in "trendy" rayon challis. I thought the color might look weird on me, I usually seem to look better in muted colors, but it actually seems to work fairly well for me.

I'm still totally fond of the French cuffs. I've been using the two connected buttons that the pattern says to use, but I'll have to eventually get a pair of real cuff links.

I've discovered that the 1.5" fusible tape from Cleaner Supply is the perfect width for stabilizing the front band, and makes the buttonholes about three zillion times easier. It's their own brand, but it's pretty much the same thing as stitch witchery, just wider.

Floral Blouse -- Without Neck TieFloral Blouse -- Without Neck Tie
I'll probably eventually do this pattern in silk too. It would probably work well with a charmeuse, although probably the blue charmeuse is the only one that would work well. The other couple of charmeuses I have are all large patterns that I'm not sure would react too well to a button-up blouse. ..And I'm still kinda afraid to actually use the charmeuse!

Burgandy Velvet: Synthetic burgandy velvet from a half-off red-tag sale at Joann.Burgandy Velvet: Synthetic burgandy velvet from a half-off red-tag sale at Joann.
I've been saying for ages that I'm going to make a cloak out of this burgandy velvet I found at a half-off red-tag sale at Joann. I got some in red and some in burgandy, and I used the red for a vest-like thing and a doublet for Kris.. and the stuff is absolutely murder to work with. It feels wonderful, but between being a synthetic that melts and having a pile that sticks straight out rather than having an actual direction, it's nearly impossible to press and slips and slides and shifts when I try to sew it. So I absolutely cannot use it for anything more complicated than a cloak.

So I decided to pull the velvet out to remind myself that I need to turn it into a cloak-- probably the one in Butterick 4377. But then I remembered why I haven't yet-- I can't decide what to line it with.

Generally I like silk as a lining, but a cloak requires too much fabric for that to seem practical. Wool might be nice, but it would have to be fairly thin and something I have enough of. The boiled wool would be too thick.
Would a dark olive tricotine work?
Or would the burgandy/dark olive combination end up with a Christmas-y red-and-green feel to it?
The turquoise gabardine would definitely not look right. I guess I will have to unearth the rubbermaid of wool to decide that. I need some type of organization that doesn't involve stacked boxes.

The one on the envelope cover is actually burgandy velvet-- but the lining is white, which I definitely don't want to do. I actually wear cloaks.

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Butterick 4609 Blouse, Finished. (And I Used My Buttonholer!)

Mon, 08/01/2011 - 14:15 — Maggie

I finished my with-real-cuffs blouse!Floral Rayon Challis Blouse -- FinishedFloral Rayon Challis Blouse -- Finished
I ended up using stitch witchery in the front band, but I think I actually used too much, it's stiffer than I would have liked it to be. I'll keep that in mind for next time-- and I definitely will be sewing this pattern again.

This one doesn't seem to photograph too well, but I think it's mainly the print that's responsible for that. It's a pretty print, but it's so contrasting that it's hard to make out the details of the blouse! That's not necessarily a bad thing, though, since the front is a bit strange since I overinterfaced (is "interfaced" the right word when I used stitch-witchery to make the fabric interface itself?) the front band a bit. I think the front was supposed to end up slouchier.

While others had reported that the pattern runs large, I found it to be just about right, actually a bit too small in the hips. I ended up letting out the back darts a bit, which seemed to fix the problem. I'm definitely glad that I didn't go down a size.

I'm not totally sure how I feel about the neck tie thingy. It's kinda cool, but kinda silly at the same time. It was definitely worth making, though; quick and easy, and another option for the blouse.
French CuffFrench Cuff
I'm loving the French cuffs. I was afraid they would be goofy, but I really like them. I made "cuff links" out of buttonhole thread and mystery bundle buttons.

And I finally rewired my Necchi BC! (Okay, fine, Kris did most of it.. but he's the expert!) So, with my BC rewired, I now have a low-shank machine in good working order, which means I can use my buttonholer! I got the buttonholer ages ago, thinking that since it was made specifically for Necchi, it would fit my machine.. and then realized upon getting it that it was for low-shank machines, and I use mostly high-shank. Low-shank buttonholers are cheap. High-shank buttonholers are not.

So, with my working BC and my buttonholer attachment, I was able to make nice automated pretty buttonholes! (Up to this point all of my buttonholes had been as-carefully-as-possible zigzagged.

ButtonholesButtonholes

Floral Rayon Challis Blouse with French Cuffs -- In Progress

Sat, 07/30/2011 - 20:14 — Maggie

I've been sewing, so you can't say I haven't!Butterick 4609 View C -- In ProgressButterick 4609 View C -- In Progress

I've been working on View C of Butterick 4609-- the blouse with the French cuffs. I'm doing the sash thingy too. I'm making it out of one of the "Trendy" rayon challis-es I got from FabricMart's most recent 75% off sale.

It's not done, but it's getting there. I still need to hem it and put in the buttonholes, and stabilize the front band. Well, it's not actually a front band it's a self-front-band, basically just folded over and then over again to form what would normally be the front band. It says to catch-stitch it in place. And doesn't say anything about interfacing. I used some stitch-witchery tape in between the innermost layers, I'll probably add another strip on the back. I'm not completely sure, though. I've been playing with buttonholes on scraps. Hopefully I'll pester Kris into helping me rewire my BC so I can use my actual buttonholer. But, uh, I've been saying I'm going to rewire the BC for quite awhile..

This blouse is the first time I've successfully made real cuffs! My first try was McCall's 5929 which caused a huge amount of frustration and ended up being a wadder. The Simplicity 2758 blouse I made back in December to shut dfr up only had those little narrow cuffs and not all the trappings real cuffs like the bound slit-- and the bound slit is the mind-boggling part. (Why didn't I do a post on that blouse? I wrote a review, but no blog post. I thought I wrote a post, but now all that seems to be on my site is the picture. Oh, it was probably because it was while dfr was in Florida! LOL Okay, that explains my lack of a post!
But this time I managed real cuffs! The instructions on the pattern were pretty good, and in combination with my copy of the Singer Sewing Book (1949 edition) I managed to make it work!

It looks a little awkward on my dress form. I do hope it ends up looking better on me. My dress form is slightly crooked, which makes everything look a bit awkward. Most of the reviews say that it runs a bit big, but it actually seems quite snug. I cut a 14, which should be about right, and seems to be, but it's hard to tell for sure before finishing up the buttons and all. I did use French seams, but I don't think they should have made too much of a difference.

I'm hoping to finish this one up tomorrow. Either with buttonholer-ed buttonholes or my normal unautomated machine buttonholes.

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