Hi sewing friends!
With Christmas on the way I am busy making gifts, so I thought I will share with you something I made a while back. I am always admiring any and all pussybow blouses I see and there are some great patterns out there such as the one from Sew Over It. For a while I was considering buying the pattern, but I thought with such a simple design I should be able to draft it myself.
After some thinking and planning I got to work on it by applying some changes to my own shirt pattern. The changes I made where quite straightforward and did not take too much time.
Pattern adjustments
First I eliminated the waist darts on both front and back, to create this loosely fitting blouse, also I had to slightly straighten side seams. Next I extended a centre back by adding 5 cm to create a boxed pleat.
I had redrawn front neckline with somehow curved V shape and marked a 3 cm slash line down the centre.
The biggest adjustment was to lower the armhole and draft a new sleeve head to fit the bigger armcycle.
The last was to draft a blouse tie, I made my 12cm by 160cm. It is a bit long but I like it.
Sewing the pattern
The biggest head scratcher for me was to figure out how to attach the tie to the neckline with a clean finish and no raw edges on display. Most pussybow blouses have a centre front seam, but I wanted to avoid having one because of my fabric print and preferences.
I settled on doing a slit with a facing instead. It is very simple to make and it gives a nice neat finish. I’ll not bore you with details, but you can have a look here if you are interested as I did mine in a similar manner. My big bow covers up the stitching and the tie is first sewn onto a neckline with a machine and finished on the inside be enclosing raw edges inside and had stitching in place.
I sewn cuffs in the same way as in my shirt, but next time I’m planning to do a proper cuff placket. I wanted to practice making that thread loop again. It came out looking a lot better. Similar to a neckline tie I avoided top stitching on cuffs and hand sewn it from inside.
Overall it took me around 4.5 hours to complete this blouse, which is surprising long considering that I had made my shirt in about 5 hours. But thinking about it, hand stitching takes time.
The fabric
I used 2 meters of this beautiful floral print viscose fabric, which I got from Lewisham Rolls and Rems shop. It used to be my local shop, and they have a pretty good selection of materials and trimmings. I purchased my fabric for £3.95 a meter and I must say it is a very nice quality material with a beautiful drape to it. It was much easier to handle than some other viscose fabrics I used to work with and made the whole sewing process a breeze.
Final thoughts
I am pretty happy with the final results of this experiment. I will use this pattern again, but might make tiny changes to armhole shape and a sleeve before. I really it can be a timeless piece, if it’s made of of plain and luxurious looking fabric and I really would like to make more in a pastel colors.
Are you fun of this style or you prefer more fitted tops?
Have a nice week!
Monika xxx
