I didn’t realize it has been a little over a month since my last post.  Time has really gotten away from me. What have I’ve been doing you ask?  Well allow me to share.

 

In my last post, I was working on my white blouse.  Guess what? I’m sill working on it. LOL!!  Here is what happened……gardening season arrived.  Remember last year I had a plot at a local community garden?  Well this year I decided to try square foot gardening with raised vegatable beds in my backyard.  The community garden was great, but I need convenience.  What’s better that your backyard,right? Plus, I think the theft of my watermelons last year cut me deep. So I’ve been sewing a little bit here and there.  But now that everything is built, situated and planted, I’m back to spending quality time in my sewing studio. ( I think I like studio better than room)

 

 

The challenge for me with this blouse has been fit.  Although this is a custom fit pattern, I still had to add 1/2 inch FBA.  Also, added width to the hips and sleeve patterns.  These are standard fit adjustment for me.  But the hum-dinger for me is my slightly rounded back and gaping armholes. I decided to address both these fit issues with this blouse.  I disovered that the gaping armholes is the result of a full bust and narrow shoulders.  This is often found in half size figure types. A simple fix is to lower the shoulder seamline no more than 3/4 inch. Since my girls are triple letters, I adjusted the full 3/4 inch. Bam, that worked!!! But, trying to make an adjustment for my slightly rounded back was like throwing dice.

There are several schools of thought on how to adjust for round backs. Some say add a center back, some say add length and darts, some say add either length or darts to the back.  I won’t bore you with all of them.  However, I did find a great document on the internet that shows how to make this adjustment for different garments.  After 3 muslins, I went with adding darts at the shoulder. I still have a little excess fabric at the shoulder back, so I think going forward I will have to add length and darts.

I’m on the downward stretch with this blouse. All that is left is hand stitching and attaching the collar and sleeves.  Hopefully, I will have it complete this coming week.

 

One more thing, you may notice blue thread on the facing.  I decided to use tailor tracks for marking instead of marking pencils or carbon. I just had this vison of not being able to remove the marks.  But I have to tell you,  me and tailor tacks are not the best of friends. I always end up ripping the pattern paper. However after taking Pamela Howard’s Classic Tailored Shirt class on craftsy, I am now an expert with tailor tacks. LOL!!!  It’s a good class with great tips. 

 

Well that all for now. 

 

Picture of my raised garden