Sunday, May 29, 2011

Silk Blouse

At our ASG meeting in April, Angie Zimmerman held a workshop for us to discuss the various techniques for working with silk and also gave us the opportunity to get patterns adjusted.

I decided to get Angie to give my Marfy 2254 blouse a fine tune so I could finally use the silk that I purchased in China for this blouse.


Angie made very minor changes to my original toile:

1. Took off the 1.5cm at the centre back neck edge that was added.
2. Reduced the armhole and sleeve additions by 0.5cm (half of what we added).
3. Increased the cuff and sleeve edge width so that the cuff doesn't grab my arm.

Here is what we did to the front pattern and then did the corresponding adjustments to the back and sleeve.



Then it was time to cut out the silk. Oh did it have some movement in it, thankfully with Angie's help I got it cut out. What was really surprising was the sleeve cuff which is cut on the bias. When I took this off to cut the 2nd lot, the way the fabric expanded was rather terrifying. Angie advised me that I need to cut out the cuff interfacing from the pattern and then get the fabric to fit it!!

I did quite a bit of hand basting with this blouse to make sure that it didn't move when I sewed the seams. I used a silk Gutterman thread for the basting as this won't leave press marks in your fabric.

Angie showed us a number of seam finishes and I chose to use a normal seam as the french seam was too thick.

You sew your seam normally and then press to one side and sew a small zigzag (L1, W2) right next to your original stitching and them trim back to the zigzag.



I don't have a button stash, so I called into Spotlight on the way home yesterday and purchased these buttons.



and plan to drop my blouse and buttons at Mick's on the way to work tomorrow for him to do the buttonholes for me.

Here is the blouse completed as far as I am going to work on it.



It will make its debut during Me-Made-June.

13 comments:

Dilliander said...

The buttons were a great choice and your blouse is looking so lovely.

Audrey said...

It is a such a pretty blouse and because of Angie's help, I know it it will fit beautifully. I love the silk print fabric you used.

Alexandra said...

Beautiful! The buttons look great. Can't wait to see it on you.

Amy Stanton said...

What a classy looking blouse! I have never done a seam the way you worked these, but am intrigued. I may have to give that a try soon. Looking forward to seeing you model it!

Vicki said...

So pretty! It flows so beautifully and no doubt will be lovely to wear.

Annec said...

Wow - that is just beautiful! Your zig zag finish is very neat too.

kbenco said...

I love it. The fabric is just beautiful and you have made the most of it.

Gail said...

It's gorgeous. I wish I'd outsourced the button holes for my blouse from Angie's workshop.

Anonymous said...

ooo your blouse is gorgeous!!...

I guess by now you have realised that the handover this weekend didn't go according to plan.

Apparently conversations were had but then the beers came out. Just as well I sent you a PDF version the other week!

xxh

gwensews said...

What a pretty, feminine blouse. You did a terrific job, working with silk AND a Marfy pattern!

Sue said...

Pretty fabric - perfect for this blouse. The tip about sewing the seam in silk was interesting. Thanks!

Gay McDonell said...

Very pretty - I like the way you did the seam finishes. Wish Mick was in my neck of the woods!

velosews said...

Love the pearl buttons. Another pretty blouse. Love it.