As I mentioned last week, I made this blouse the weekend we got back from Hungary. It was a really quick make, with only a few seams and minimal closures, so even including some thread tracing and french seams didn’t really lengthen the project time. In other words, it was exactly the sort of project I needed right after a holiday!
Burda 09/2010 #110 is the sleeveless version of this top and one of the, oh, eleven must-sews for me from this September 2010 issue. It’s been one of my absolute favourite issues since the moment it came out, so it was nice to make something other than the cover dress for once!
I mostly made this to coordinate with my upcoming grey wool skirt suit, but with our unexpected hot and sunny October (29C/88F!!!) in London, you’ll get it see it worn now in a summer style, paired with my silver tweed KnipMode skirt. I imagine the weather will cool off enough by the time I finish the suit that you’ll get to see it layered underneath the jacket as I intended!
I rather like how my outfit coordinates nicely with the new metal primer paint on our deck! It won’t be there for long, as the final top coat will be dark green again…
You can’t see all the details here, but I made this entirely with french seams throughout, as the silk habotai is really very fine and almost sheer. It’s almost lighter than air and is really too lightweight for a top, but I already had my heart set on using it for this pattern. Thankfully the wrap style combined with the folded-over facings means that there’s no see-through problems here at all, but I’ll still mostly use this for layering. The silk is from Ditto Fabrics, and is still available if you’d like some, too. Though I’d recommend it for a luxurious lining rather than a top!
On the inside wrap I very carefully sewed two tiny snaps (with silk this thin, the stitches show on the outside!), but for the outside wrap, I used two vintage pearly buttons and delicate buttonholes. I cleverly remembered to fuse some lightweight interfacing on the buttonhole areas, which ends up being hidden by the facing folds…
And finally, here you can see the pleats around the neck which help to give the shawl collar a nice shape, but you can also see the luminescent quality of the silk here, too:
I mentioned above, but I started on my next project, the skirt suit from Burda September 2011:
I cut out all the million pieces for both the jacket and skirt this weekend, and thread-traced a lot of the lines on the jacket’s front pieces, so the next step is to fuse the interfacing. My stretch wool (also from Ditto!) is lovely and drapey, so I think one of Pam’s weft-insertion interfacings will maintain the drape on the jacket.
I actually had a project in between the peach shell and this grey suit, but more about that later!