I was hesitant to try another Collette pattern. Though I do enjoy wearing my
Sencha, it required a great deal of adjustment to get it to look good enough...to wear with a belt. I don't know if that is a glowing recommendation.
I could not find a blouse that was better suited for my fabric than
Jasmine even though I did buy
Simplicity 1779 and had even cut the pattern pieces out when I realized that I REALLY wanted to cut this blouse on the bias.
I have been having a lot of bias troubles in my sewing lately. I have also been wanting an easy project. Something where I just followed the pattern and finished a garment. The end. No pattern re-adjustments. No re-designs.
$16 is spendy for a pattern. I rarely spend more than $5 on a pattern and even then they are Vogue patterns which make me swear. (Seriously, whoever is writing the instructions for Vogue patterns needs some lessons.) Also, I couldn't just pick up a Collette pattern, I had to either use 1/2 tank of gas driving to other side of town OR pay $16 online, plus shipping, and then wait for it to arrive in the mail. I chose option two.
When it arrived I remembered two things. First, the pattern comes with the most darling instruction book, very detailed instructions and a clever pocket for holding the pattern piece. Second, the reason I hate Collette patterns, all sizes 0-18 are printed on one piece of tissue paper. So, you have 10 lines on each piece and are somehow supposed to follow your line through the maze out to the other side. It is lazy and looks sloppy. How hard and costly would it be to print out TWO pieces of tissue with half the sizes on one piece and half on the other? Not hard at all.
Pattern printing complaints aside, the blouse went together like a breeze. It was pretty straight forward, the most difficult part was adding the piping around the edges of the tie. This was my own design and had nothing to do with the pattern. Even matching up the stripes of the fabric to the design went swimmingly.
The pattern called for 2 7/8 yds and I had only 2 1/2 yds of my fabric. That is another reason I hesitated to buy the pattern, but with very careful laying out, including matching the pattern of the fabric, I had just enough.
I should have measured my arms, the cuffs are a smidge tight for my muscles. It would have been a simple fix if I had caught it before I cut, but I didn't and I did not have any more fabric to cut new cuffs. I made some very skinny seams on the cuffs and the cuffs fit well enough but I would like another 1/8 of a inch of ease.
I found the fabric at Mill End. I just love it. I piped the edges of the tie in the matching grey fabric. Originally, the loop for the tie was in the main fabric, but the bow looked a bit anemic so I swapped it out for the contrast.
Would I make it again? Yes. I am a pretty adept seamstress and I can get over the bumps in the pattern layout. Honestly, the multiple patterns printed over one another is my only complaint. I don't mind the price but for the price I would like the patterns to be easier to see. I would modify the sleeves if I were to make it again, I think that they need to be looser so that they can hang or shorter, right now it just looks like too much fabric.
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