Simplicity 8131

There are bare shouldered tops everywhere this summer.  Off-the shoulder is out of the question for me  but I really fancied a blouse with a cut-out shoulder - enter Simplicity 8131.

Now the first thing I did wrong was to pick a colour of fabric which is too close to flesh tones, and so the cut-away hardly shows (it is there honest ... look closely!).  The fabric wasn't the right choice.  It is cotton voile pique from Guthrie and Ghani, which I bought because I'm a little obsessed with dusky pink.  But although it is lightweight I think this blouse would benefit from even more drape, probably something silky.

The bow can be tied either high at the neck or fitted to the v shape.  I didn't include the strange v shaped hem and also I thought the pattern sleeve length looks neither here nor there so I added 3" to the sleeve length.  I also put an elastic casing in the sleeves rather than the little cuff used in the pattern which I thought would be difficult to fit properly.  I cut a size 14 but had to take the sides in about an 1" on each side .

You can see how the tie works. Small gathers on the shoulders.  This was reasonably straightforward, but you need to make sure you get the edges of neck piece accurately "trapped".



The arm facing is quite clever, as well as rather fiddly.  It has a neat look on the outside.

Here is the inside, again reasonably neat, but one think I don't like is that the sleeve is finished by dual rows of stitching and I thing it looks a little messy.  I don't see why you couldn't finish it by overlocking.

I might make this again next year with a different fabric, if bare shoulders are still "in". 

I might make this again next year with a different fabric, if


I've been having a couple of really lazy weeks watching loads of the Olympics and it has been fantastic.  So proud of Team GB what a performance and just what I needed after feeling ashamed of so much of what was said during the referendum.  Sad to see Phelps' last Olympic race, what an athlete; by himself he has won more medals than Argentina over all the Olympics.  Fantastic to see Mo win again!


Lots more to enjoy this week. 

Vogue 1482

Here is my Vogue 1482.  

Do I like it, I'm not quite sure.  I certainly liked it on the McCalls YouTube clip.;   all swingy and bouncy (or was that the model!).

I do love the sleeves.

Possibly with the ability to fly without a parachute!  You can just see the rather successful neck binding in these photos and although you don't need the back opening to get this over your head I did still include this as a feature.

 

Its loose and comfortable and makes the most of this fabulous John Kaldor Microfibre from Minerva (great fabric, lovely to sew but awful to press - maybe you don't need to).

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I originally prepped for a medium, but after reading other reviews and doing a tissue fitting I thought a small would be good enough and it is.  I should have added a little more length to give a large hem (this one is just 1 cm) which I think would aid with the swingy factor.  I didn't think that the bottom of the dress was going to be wide enough so I added a good inch each side, only to have to take it out as it wasn't needed and spoilt the line.

There is one pocket on the diagonal, which is cute, but as it is fully French seamed there is a lot of bulk here and I wouldn't have a pocket in a French seamed seam again.   Otherwise the French seams look nice.

More detail of the pocket.

 

 

 ... and on the inside, you can see the French seaming (the white is a bit of interfacing I added for strength, it spoils the look a bit but gives the opening a bit of needed structure)

I think I like it, but will have to wear it to decide.  What it certainly is is a dog's dinner of a dress.  I do not remember making as many silly mistakes on one garment before.  First I cut one pocket the wrong way, this wouldn't have shown but being picky I recut it ..... only for some reason I cut it out of the already cut back piece!  I then didn't have enough fabric to cut another back so I had to join two pieces together on one side (with a diagonal seam).  As if that wasn't enough I then didn't read the instructions, joined front to back (graded and French seamed) only to find you actually insert the sleeves on the flat before joining  front to back.  I could undo the side seams to tried to fit the sleeves as usual in the round!  It was awful, really hard and fiddly and whilst I have got them in they are a bit of a mess.

I think this dress would look great in a stripe, but why is it you just can't seem to find any striped viscose?  Have you spotted any ... black preferably.

On the non-sewing front I've had a busy couple of weeks.  Dan, Gemma and I went to see Derren Brown at the Lowry.  What a fantastic show.  I bought the tickets a year ago so we were right at the front.  Derren is a bit of a hero of Dan's and it was fantastic that Dan got to be part of the show.  His face was on the stage 15 foot high, and his bit lasted about 5 minutes, as Dan said awesome.  And to finish a little bit of puppy cuteness, this is Costa, an eight week old Cockerpoo who has just joined my friend Robert's family.