Bellatrix blazer, weather permitting

This is my latest entry over at Indie Pattern Month on the Monthly Stitch. I just won a year-long fitting battle with the Bellatrix blazer, from Papercut patterns.

I think it’s gorgeous, but despite three muslins I couldn’t get it to fit. A tantrum and a year later I came back to it, made a fourth muslin, and behold!

The main fitting changes I made were
1. adding a bit to the side seams, thereby also increasing the sleeve circumference, and
2. making the front side panel squarer, which I guess is a dodgy princess-seam FBA of sorts

Pocket shots:

The fabric is a textured cotton from my trip to Japan in April. It’s absolutely lovely but it does crease easily in the non-interfaced bits (sleeves and back mostly). The lining is a lighter cotton.

That’s pretty much it about the blazer. Here are the outtakes from a June photo shoot in Wellington:

(no light)

(gale force winds!)

Ah well, luckily we’re a hardy bunch. And a bright mustard jacket is just the thing on a chilly grey June day.

Details:

• Pattern: Bellatrix blazer by Papercut patterns
• Fabric: textured cotton from Japan
• Alterations: widened sleeve, altered shape of side front to give a bit more room
• Next time: lengthen sleeve 1cm, add interfacing to top of sleeve and across top of back
• More versions: here, here, here, here, here, PatternReview

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Sewing double, sisters edition – SBCC Mimosa

This is my Indie Pattern Month entry over at The Monthly Stitch. The week 2 challenge is to sew two versions of the same pattern, so I made a blouse for myself and one for my sister.

It’s a SBCC Mimosa, a pull-over blouse with raglan sleeves and a front tie.

We live in different countries (me in NZ, her in Australia), so we had to get creative with the photos. We had a virtual trip to the park…

Followed by a chat on the corner…

Check out that Wellington hair! It was definitely time to freshen up…

Before a well-earned cup of tea.

Why would 2,325km stand in the way of a good sisterly catch-up?

Now, more details about the pattern:

It’s a lovely one for a voile or light cotton (which I used), and I’m sure it would work well in something drapier too. I made two adjustments: firstly, I changed the sleeve to a two-piece one, with a seam along the shoulder. The original has a dart there, and try as I might I couldn’t get it to sit properly, there was always a bump at the end of the dart. Here’s the seam instead:

Secondly, I shaped the hem up at the sides, so it looks a little nicer untucked.  Some people who have made this have inserted a back facing (there’s already a front one), but I had no trouble using bias tape as directed.

That back neck looks too low, I think it’s because I changed the sleeve. Must fix next time.

Details:

• Pattern: SBCC Mimosa blouse
• Fabric: Art Gallery fabrics voile (me), Spotlight bargain bin geometric light cotton (her – wish I’d bought more for myself!)
• Alterations: two-piece sleeve, curved hem
• Next time: raise back neck
• More versions: here, here, here, here, here, PatternReview