Chocolate Jasmine

Finally finished: the chocolate Jasmine bow neck blouse. It was supposed to be my garment of the month November and entry for the November Bow neck blouse sewalong so I thought: let's take an autumn-ish picture and no one will notice ;)
It could have been finished only one day late, at the first of December,  but I took the advice to let the finished blouse hang for at least 24 hours before hemming a bit too seriously. Cut on the bias and we don't want a wonky seam!
So I painted a small room, put in some new flooring and went back to the blouse.
By that time it was closer to Christmas than to November so the next picture, which shows the color in a more realistic way, was shot in the holly tree. Even though I'm always late, I DO know what time of year it is, see?

What's the verdict on this pattern? When I made a muslin I was unpleasantly surprised by the size of the sleeves. I'm a swimmer, and I'm blessed with..ahem...quite full upper arms, but really, the Hulk himself would not burst out of this sleeves in his most impressive moments! Even after removing two inches of the width I still think the sleeves are overpowering the look.  

My fabric was a bit of a nightmare. It was somewhat slippery, but not in a way I couldn't handle. However, it was very difficult to press! Before pressing the bow ties I hand basted everything  flat, pressed, removed the basting thread and pressed again.

And yes, those darts needed three more rounds of pressing!

Next challenge. Making bias tape for the neck binding. Ever done that with fabric that presses so badly? After adding several layers of spray starch the fabric finally surrendered.

The drape of the fabric is very nice, which is a bonus in a bias cut garment. It's flowy and lightweight. 

When it came to constructing the collar those flowy qualities became a drawback. I used the same collar in my Jasbetto, made of cotton lawn. it was nice and crisp. The muslin collar also turned out fine, but this collar in cupro could have used some interfacing. Again interpretation of the muslin proved to be tough because of difference in drape.

Excusez the wrinkles in the sleevehead. I should have pressed again after wearing it. Sigh. Technically there's nothing wrong over there. (Just checked after seeing this picture)

Surprise! Closer inspection of the pattern made me realize this collar is supposed to be wobbly!

The lack of interfacing in the collar is more than made up for in the cuff. Even though I used very delicate fusible interfacing, the cuffs are a bit stiff compared to the rest of the garment.

Maybe next time I'll use silk organza to stabilize both collar and cuffs.

In the end I like the finished project, although I'm glad it's done! I think this blouse will fill a gap in my wardrobe and I have a nice cardigan to wear over it on colder days. That is, after I made some minor changes to it.

Can you imagine the design genius that wakes up in the middle of the night, shouting: 'Eureka! Let's put white buttons on burgundy cardigans!'

Button box to the rescue

I cleaned my sewing room and ironed the Anna dress pattern tissue so now let's hope for a nice, carefree run on my next project.

Happy stitching!