Hope you have had a lovely week and got lots of sewing in.
I started my attempt of the keyhole blouse pattern last weekend. It is the first real type of pattern I have tried and even though I have enjoyed it, I also realised how much I have to learn.
To be fair the pattern itself has very simplified sizing guides, and the instructions are very clear with good pictures to guide you through.
I knew from experience of buying clothes and reading other sewing blogs, that I would need to do a full bust adjustment. This is the one I used here . I have to say it was much easier to do then I was expecting, even if the pattern piece looked totally butchered by the end of it. Only time will tell on how successful it has been.
Choosing the fabric took ages, as I knew I needed something that would drape well. But I'm finding a lot of the smaller shops in my area, seem to cater more for quilting, and don't really carry a large range of dress fabric. The best shop I found in the end was Fabric Magic in Trowbridge, where I selected a bright red Crepe, it was not too expensive either just encase it all goes terribly wrong.
I was a bit worried about working with this type of fabric, as I have heard it can be a bit more slippery, but I did not find it too bad. It was all going very well until I got to putting in the sleeves. To start with I was very chuffed with my first attempt, when checking the seam over it did not look too bad, and the gathers were not too un even. When to my horror I realised I had put it in the wrong way, so the wrong side of the fabric, would be on the outside. I had to get the seam ripper out, and take it all apart, and do it again. This time I caught parts of the sleeve in several places, and it looked really bad. By this time I was a bit frazzled and left it in a bit of a huff. The next day I managed to unpick it again, and put in both sleeves successfully. yay me.
It is not quite finished yet, I still have the neck line to do and the hem, but this should not take too long. I have tried it on and it is not a really good fit, but not bad for a first attempt. I think as well as the bust adjustment, I might need to widen the back through the shoulders a bit as well. It is a bit snug when you shrug the shoulders forward, but will have to look into this a bit more, as I have no idea how you would do this. I suppose the other option could be to make the next size up, and do a slightly smaller bust adjustment, and adjust the side seams.
Come back next week to see the finished garment, but here is a sneak peek of how it looks now.
