Lottie Blouse and a bit of a bargain!

This was a bargain make.  The pattern is the Lottie blouse which came free with Simple Sew magazine (this is a new mag which I am enjoying).   Sorry I did mean to blog about this blouse while the magazine was still available but I think it disappeared last week!




I liked the look of the blouse and then at the Minerva meet-up Lisa (the designer) was demonstrating making the blouse.  Lisa's red version was gorgeous and it looked really easy.

So I bought the fabric at the Minerva craft meet-up.  It is 100% viscose but it has a lovely drape for this blouse and feels really comfy.  At £5.95 a metre I needed 1.2 metres, so again a bargain (you can buy it on-line here) .  It definitely has a 60s vibe in the bright paisley pattern and the jade colour goes really well with other items in my wardrobe. I'm getting a bit fonder of 60s fashions (the problem is I was there for the first time - and I'm enjoying This Old Thing on a Wed evening which is looking at Vintage (mostly 60s) clothes.  I really like the finished blouse, not my usual style as it is not really fitted, but I do like a bow-neck!

The neck was the fiddly bit.  You have to cover the key hole shape with bias binding (I made my own; first time for this, and with this really soft fabric it was a bit difficult). 

So the bias round the neck was a bit tricky but otherwise construction was straightforward.  You fit the sleeves in flat and then just sew right from the cuff to the hem. 

We are having a lovely heatwave here in Cumbria and I'm enjoying the sunshine as well as lovely bunches of stocks and roses!  Thanks so much for your comments which I love reading.  Enjoy the rest of the wekk.

Bookish meanderings and Vogue 8772 a bow blouse

One of my favourite blogs is Tales From A Happy House.  Gillian has a real knack for writing about things which relate to your own life and every blog takes me back to my own happy memories.  Last week she was writing about the books of her childhood and this set me off on a real journey.  I loved books preferring to cuddle them in bed rather than dolls! This is also tied up with happy memories of browsing in book shops with my dad.   My absolute early favourites were by Alison Uttly; tales of country animals with the main hero the Little Grey rabbit.  I so wanted a ball made of cowslips (you can see Fuzzypeg the hedgehog throwing it here).

My favourite picture was Winken, Blinken and Nodd from Verses for Children by Margaret W Tarrant.  I had a period of nightmares due to a bullying teacher at school, and I think this picture made me think of being safe at night and dreaming about good things.

 I progressed to Enid Blyton and read them all (memories of the local library and all books being fumigated because of a whooping cough epidemic - can't see that happening now), then Arthur Ransome.   Probably my two favourites were Ballet Shoes and The Little White Horse.  I still listen to the last one on audio books!

Some of my favourite memories with my boys are reading together, usually something with a rhyme and jokes.  Our favourite author is Colin McNaughton.  Books have been such a wonderful part of my life and I don't read enough of them now, I'm afraid reading blogs has reduced this (following about 150 blogs on Bloglovin does take time).  I definitely need to revisit this.  Sorry for this long trip down memory lane!  Now on to the sewing!

This is my second attempt at V8772 and finally a full on bow neck blouse (bit of an 80's vibe perhaps).

For my first attempt I didn't have enough fabric for the bow and so made a collar.  You may be able to see from the picture that it was rather tight around the bust and although I loved the fabric I never actually wore it because it was just too restrictive (Gemma is going to wear it for work).  The fit was good on the shoulders and waist though.  So enter a full bust adjustment.  Before you are too impressed I did this at my weekly sewing class with some help from Maddie, the teacher.   You can see from the photo of the pattern what we did. 

This also meant that I had to narrow the waist and the change the diamond shaped dart into a full dart which went down to the waist.  The final effect is a more comfortable fit.

.... and in case you missed it there is a bow!

The bow is cut on the bias and takes a lot of fabric.  So this took 3 metres.  Are you thinking isn't that Liberty Tana Lawn at £22 a metre?  Well yes it is Liberty but I went to the wonderful Standfast and Barracks in Lancaster who sells older prints of Liberty for only £5 per metre, so this is a £10 blouse.  Excellent!

You may have noticed that this is my first blog in 3 weeks.  I had a really high profile job interview and it took loads of time preparing, plus days of feeling every so slightly sick and spending a fortune on a dress (too posh to risk handmade!) and a pair of red patent high heels!  Didn't get it (none of the interviewees did) but didn't feel bad about it as I do like my current job.

There's been lots of rain but on sunny days it has been gorgeous, the meadow flowers are growing

The Hawthorn is glorious.

I do so love the sun and try as I might I just can't love the rain. 

Finally I'm hoping to go to the Minerva meet up this Saturday so if any of you are going do say hello!