Little House Blouse

I feel like a new world has opened to me. I made my first shirt. I usually have a hard time finding buttonfront shirts that fit because of the boob situation. If it fits me everywhere else, the button across the bust is usually hanging on for dear life. I tried stretchy blouses, but that just made me look loose. Tight blouse = loose girl. (I couldn't resist.) So, I resigned myself to wearing sack-ish shirts that just hung off of me. Every time I looked in the mirror, I would shrug and think that maybe I'll single-handedly bring grunge back. Even if I did, I'd be too old for it anyway.

So, I started taking sewing classes. We made an elastic-waisted skirt in class. Not sexy, not worth even talking about. But, it fit and I learned some great basic techniques. And we're onto making a tote bag with some serious interfacing and soon we'll be making a t-shirt. I'm excited for that.

Anyway, I've been hoarding sewing books and patterns just willing myself to dive in and make a piece of apparel. Every time I took out that darned tissue paper, I would stuff it back into the envelope and go back into my comfort zone. Well, I did it. The class gave me enough confidence to give it a whirl.



I used the shirt pattern in Sew U by Wendy Mullin - the Built By Wendy gal - and gave birth to my first shirt. I had bought this fabric with a shirt in mind, hoping to achieve a sort of boho, country chic. But, I think I landed short and all I think when I see it is Little House On The Prairie.

I was able to bond with my new Baby Lock Evolve serger a bit. Getting a good feel for it and what it actually does. So I used a simple 3-thread overlock to finish the seams, and a single chain stitch to complete the hemming at the bottom of the shirt. I know what all the fuss is about now. It's fast, powerful and just glides.



I'm hoping to eventually alter these patterns and really make them fit well. This shirt fits across the boob area, but is a wee bit in the waist/lower back area. We'll see.

The whole process was F-U-N!!!