completed: simplicity 1538.

i had a busy weekend so i'll have to take better pictures later, but the blouse is done (save for the buttons) & i can't believe it but the fit is just perfect. not only the sizing, but all those tucks & dart at the waist shaped the blouse in a way that's perfect for my body shape.

as i mentioned before, this was supposed to be the muslin ie the trial run before the real thing on nicer fabric, but i'm not sure i want to go through this again. theoretically, it should be easier the second time around, but some of the tailoring tasks would make me really nervous on, for example, Liberty cotton, which would be a great fabric for this blouse.



i felt Liberty cotton up & down for the first time at Britex last week. it's $49.99/yard which sounds outrageous until you see the depth of color, crispness of design & of course put your hands all over it. but if you're sewing with Liberty cotton, there can be no mistakes.

& everything with a french seam.

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Problem Areas

the cuffs.



cuffs are not fun. actually, it's not so much the cuffs (although i did put one in backwards) as it is the faced bound buttonholes on the cuffs.

yes. faced bound buttonholes.

look, bound buttonholes are gorgeous & i really did think they were worth the extra effort, until i found out later on in the instructions that after you get done making the bound buttonholes, you have to face the bound buttonholes.

what a nightmare.

you really have to be exacting with your measurements so the facing slashes match the buttonhole openings perfectly or you're screwed. the lapel facings weren't so bad, but the cuffs? geez. the hand sewn slash 'n hem method wasn't cutting it for a number of reasons, so i ended up improvising my own method. at some point, i need to write it down, but not here & not now. there's extra stitching around the outside of the buttonhole that's not supposed to be there, but the cuff facings no longer look like something gnawed on them and i'm now confident they'll hold up over time.

setting the sleeves.



sleeves aren't exactly a barrel of laughs either & when i started working on them, i recalled being very frustrated with sleeves a long time ago when i used to sew. oh & i put a sleeve in backwards too, but i guess a backwards cuff & sleeve was payback for the fact that i did indeed get the sleeve plackets in the right way.

& i don't understand the purpose of steam-shrinking out the fullness of the seam allowance along the sleeve cap before you set the sleeve. i googled it, but i still don't know why. i just know you're supposed to.

so i did, although i am doubtful that this is necessary.