The fabric may invoke thoughts of being on a safari but making this blouse has been more like being on a rollercoaster ride. I have been wanting to make a pussy bow blouse for ages and as I decided that this year I was going to stretch myself more, Vogue pattern 8772 was calling.
Minerva very kindly gifted me the gorgeous chiffon fabric as part of their Ambassador program and so a good few weeks ago I started my project.
What is it they say about best laid plans …
Unfortunately my health and a number of general life dramas had other ideas and I have really struggled to be able to complete this. When my symptoms are bad I suffer with lack of concentration due to fatigue and brain fog and after two different falls, I also managed to sprain the ligaments in my ring finger which really didn’t help. You would think that I would know by now not to attempt to sew when I don’t feel well, but no, I tried to carry on regardless and then inevitably made lots of mistakes and ended up having to unpick and redo lots. To be honest this happened too many times to mention (which isn’t clever when working with chiffon). I even managed to sew one of the sleeves on inside out! (I swear me and my sewing room are like a moth being drawn to the light, I find it’s draw irresistible.)
None of these mistakes were due to the fabric or the complexity of the pattern just purely my crazy MS inflicted brain!
Finally though I have finished the blouse and ironically I’m starting to feel better now (shame that didn’t happen a month ago eh?)
Before I started sewing I did a lot of research into working with chiffon, as it’s a fabric I haven’t worked with before. I think there’s a lot of fear banded about, around working with ‘difficult’ fabrics but I’ve always found that if you use the right techniques then it’s never as scary as it’s made out to be. Obviously if you just steam ahead and sew as normal then you are likely to encounter problems.
I made sure that when my hubby cut out the pattern the fabric was sandwiched between layers of tissue paper so that it wouldn’t slip around. He used pattern weights and a rotary cutter and cut out each piece singularly rather than the normal doubling of fabric. I had a new microtex needle on my machine and used the walking foot. I also tested the fabric to check the stitch tension and was pleasantly surprised to see that when sewing I didn’t need to use tissue paper or embroidery tear away stabiliser to support my seams (and stop them getting jammed in the throat plate).
This fabric was actually very well behaved and certainly a great introduction to working with chiffon. It didn’t fray excessively (which I know can be an issue) and didn’t slip around too much when being sewed either. It also feels lovely to wear as it’s so soft and silky.
The vogue pattern had really clear instructions and despite having eight darts (four double pointed), eight buttons and French seams it wasn’t too difficult. Because of the delicate nature of the fabric I used tailor tacks to transfer the pattern markings. The blouse is quite fitted so I had to make a number of adjustments to ensure that it fit comfortably.
Closely fitted blouses aren’t always the most suitable to wear in a wheelchair so I adjusted the ease a little and gave myself more room around the bust and tummy, tbh looking at the finished result I wish I’d given it a little bit more, but I was pleased with the length which easily covered my lower back. I use an electric chair so don’t need lots of movement from my blouses. If you are a manual chair user then you may find the close fitting nature of this blouse too restrictive.
I love the finished look of the blouse, especially the pussy bow and now feel confident enough to tackle more chiffon projects in the future, so watch this space.
#DisabledSewist, #MinervaBrandAmbassador, #MinervaMakes, #MinervaMakers, #Vogue8772, #SewnShownSeated, #DisabledSewist, #SewingWithChiffon, #SewingJourney,
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