The blouse saga

After the shorts saga, here's the blouses saga, this one had better results and was shorter.

A few weeks ago, Marlene Mukai and Maximus Tecidos organized another mini-course, and one of the pieces was the degage blouse, a model that I really like and that seemed simple to make, so I decided to try it. At the time I just made the pattern thinking that I would make the blouse later when I had time.

A few weeks later I cut the fabric, finished the fabric and joined the shoulders, before continuing I decided to try it to see how it went, and I discovered that the neckline had very little drape which didn’t work for this kind of blouse. So I decided to take it apart and see if I could use the fabric for another model.

By pure luck that same week Marlene Mukai had uploaded a video of blouses with pleats on the shoulders, I liked the models and decided to see if I could use the fabric I had already cut to make the first model.

I made the pattern, cut the fabric, made the pleats and joined the shoulders and then I tried it. I didn't like the result, the fabric was very soft so the pleats didn't look right. I took it apart again and decided to make a basic blouse, because the already cut fabric wasn't enough for much else.

At this point I was already demoralized and thought that at least the blouse would be useful for testing various finishing techniques. I added an internal bias to the neckline, an apparent bias to the armholes and made a thin hem (scarf hem) at the waist. I finished the blouse but it wasn't good, I must have folded the fabric wrong because it was short in the area where I had folded the fabric to cut it, you can see that it's a beginner's work so I'm only going to wear it at home.

Since I had some fabric left over I decided to use it to make a blouse with a tie around the neck. As a pattern I used a similar blouse.

I added an internal bias to the armholes and it looks better than the one on the other blouse.

I still want to try to make a dress because I had an idea that I would like to see completed, I hope it goes better or I foresee the end of my attempts to sew my own clothes.

In any case, it wasn't wasted time as I tried making something new and the process even served to show me that actually what I enjoy doing most is creative sewing, and to get rid of the frustration I immediately started making a new bag.