The shortage of me-made tops around these parts became glaringly obvious to me when I started trying to wear them. I decided to remedy this situation, and fast, by finally making the Colette Pattern’s Sencha blouse I’ve been thinking about for awhile now. I bought this awesome cotton voile a few months ago, and had in mind exactly this blouse for it when I bought it. So this week, I decided to try to whip it together in order to have it in time to wear it Friday.
This means I was sewing for a LONG time last night. But it looks great, right?
Nope.
This thing is HUGE. I pinned in the excess fabric in back so I could still get away with wearing it today (a cardigan hides a multitude of sins). But wowza. I need to take in at least 4 or 5 inches from this thing.
Dudes. I made a muslin and everything.
Does this look too big to you? I mean, I know Bessie and I aren’t EXACTLY the same size, but I didn’t think we were that far off from each other.
This is not what this top looks like on me.
Sigh. I never thought blouses would be so tricky to make. In ready to wear, tops are about the easiest things in the world for me to buy, because my up-top shaping is pretty standard. And yet…I have made four tops (five, if you count the one I threw away because it was so horrible), and most of them have some kind of strange fitting issue. I think I know what my mistake was here: I ended up grading out the pattern at the hips, because I knew that with its long-ish hem, it would need a little more space to fit my derriere. But I think I didn’t need as much space as I assumed I would. Maybe? There is also an insane amount of extra fabric around the waist, so I don’t know.
I think the part that baffles me the most is that it fits my dress form very differently than it fits me, and I honestly didn’t think my dress form was that hugely different to my actual body. I think I need to spend some serious time padding out and forcing in and generally re-shaping Ol’ Bessie.
Anyway. I’m still wearing it. Cardigans are my friend. I’ll fix it soon.