Satin cowl blouse

You’ve seen it in the tweed and satin three piece suit, now it’s time to reveal the blouse on its own!

Marfy 1210 is the first Marfy pattern I’ve ever sewn, and if you’re not familiar with them, Marfy patterns come with no instructions, no technical drawing, no layout diagrams, nothing. You don’t even get any other sizes – just the one you’ve ordered, in pre-cut tissue, just like vintage patterns.

So the above is all I had to go on, plus a few cryptic phrases rubber stamped onto the tissue itself (if you thought “Burda-isms” were bad, hoo boy, you should see Marfy!). Still, I knew I was up for a challenge, and to be honest, the construction wasn’t any more different than dealing with KnipMode or Patrones when I can’t understand the instructions.

There are a lot of things I like about this blouse, but there are also a fair amount of things I’d change if I made it again.

You’ve seen it in the tweed and satin three piece suit, now it’s time to reveal the blouse on its own!

Marfy 1210 is the first Marfy pattern I’ve ever sewn, and if you’re not familiar with them, Marfy patterns come with no instructions, no technical drawing, no layout diagrams, nothing. You don’t even get any other sizes – just the one you’ve ordered, in pre-cut tissue, just like vintage patterns.

So the above is all I had to go on, plus a few cryptic phrases rubber stamped onto the tissue itself (if you thought “Burda-isms” were bad, hoo boy, you should see Marfy!). Still, I knew I was up for a challenge, and to be honest, the construction wasn’t any more different than dealing with KnipMode or Patrones when I can’t understand the instructions.

There are a lot of things I like about this blouse, but there are also a fair amount of things I’d change if I made it again.

Things I like

  • The cowl – it’s cut on the bias, and it drapes beautifully in this fluid satin. It’s actually 100% polyester, bought in Dublin, but it feels so much like silk that I actually did a burn test for the first time ever to confirm that it was actually polyester!
  • The nipped-in wasp waist leading down into the separate hip peplum is just so perfect. It really creates a 1950s silhouette and means when you tuck it in, the blouse just does NOT move or pull out of your waistband
  • The shoulder pieces create a great base for the gathered edges of the cowl, and I reinforced these with a bit of lightweight interfacing so they kept their shape despite the pulling of the cowl

Things I don’t like

  • The cowl – the indicated fold line is a scant inch off the edge of the pattern piece, meaning the raw edge flips out ALL. THE. TIME. I consider this a major design flaw – you’ve either got to line the cowl entirely or greatly extend the cowl edge to keep it from flipping out. I also added a thin bias tube to the inside of the cowl to place under my bra band to prevent gaping when leaning over, but this is fairly standard on cowl necks.
  • The sizing – this pattern is available in 42-46-50-54. I’m a size 48 according to their measurements, so I bought a 50. Unlike multisize patterns where you can just draw between two sizes, with Marfy, you’re stuck with the size you bought, and this 50 is way too big on me, especially in the shoulders, which end up looking like cap sleeves. I omitted the size zipper entirely as I can just get it on over my head and let it sit on my hips
  • The facing – Facings aren’t included, so I created one for the back neck and shoulder pieces (and bias binding for the armscyes). They flip out no matter what, so in hindsight, I should’ve just lined the entire thing down to the waist seam.
  • The bottom band and ribbon belt – These just aren’t my style and the blouse is plenty long enough without an extra band at the bottom, so I just omitted these, too

All in all, I think this blouse works best as Marfy intended – worn under a jacket (or capelet!) to just show a bit of colour, shine and nice, drapey cowl, but not reveal the wide shoulders or flipping facings!

Next up is the tweed skirt!

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