White blouse #1 finished, and planning the second

Without much ado, blouse #1:

And here, with the belt - which I made loooooong enough for sure - wrapped twice around.  No doubt it'll also look better without the second belt holding up my jeans under it: you can see how it thickens up the hipline (yuk!).

 

You can also see just how very light is this fabric - doing a turned edge really wouldn't have worked, I fear. 

 

Completely see through - it'll never be worn IRL without a tank or cami under it.

Evaluating it for the design, I had deliberately made the shoulder line a little dropped, but now that I see it in action, I do believe that I'd prefer those seams to sit on, not fall off, my shoulder point.  Easy enough, and I already shifted them upwards by 1.5" before I put the pattern pieces away.  The waist darts in the back look like they could be brought in towards centre a little as well.


I'm thinking that my second blouse will share a few similarities with this one:  a cut-on collar and a waist tie.  I plan to base it on Burda 105-6-2009, a pattern which I already used some time ago to make this reversible silk dupioni jacket:

This one has an absurdly dropped shoulder.  You might think that this was my poor quality fitting, but not so! I cut my usual 38 and stay-stitched the necklines to ensure they don't stretch, and, if you look at the model jacket on a dummy, the dropped shoulder is quite evident.  Maybe someone in the drafting department forgot to shorten the shoulder of a jacket sloper originally intended to have linebacker shoulder pads (hello, eighties)?!   which of course are impossible to put into a reversible garment.  Whatevah - I'll just shorten the shoulder seams so the sleeves actually reach my shoulder. 

Here's what I like about this jacket:  the armhole princess seams, which shift the waist tie closer to centre, from way off on the side seam.  I'll change the collar-less lapels to a cut-on collar, and, instead of making it reversible, I'll -probably - add a facing as I did to the lightweight shirt above. Or, if I choose a heavier fabric, just do a facings-less hem and front edge, though I'll probably do at least an interfaced undercollar.

Redesigning Very Easy

For my first white blouse I decided to go with a Very Easy Vogue 7998 wrap design. It's now out of print. I  believe I originally bought it because of its "very easy" label. I do like the lay of the collar and the big tie.

 I still like the cut-on collar - it gives a lot of bang for the buck - and the casual yet dressy feel.  But once I took a look at the pattern pieces and the instructions, I decided I don't like it quite so much for my fabric:  a very lightweight cotton voile. I was afraid all the pulling and tugging would do short work of the fabric, and I was a bit put off by all the hemming it requires.  Sooo - I redesigned the pattern a tiny bit.

I always wanted to have a shirt with square armholes, and this pattern seemed to be the perfect integrated basic shape that could be easily converted.

There's a cleverly concealed bust dart in the not-very-right angle of the front piece.  I also wanted the collar and the front curved edge to have a little more body and stability, so I created a front facing.  The ties will be long and skinny, and they'll attach to the logical place, the bottom of the front curve/top of straight edge, with a slit in the left side seam, to wrap all the way around the back.  Hum, it's no longer a very easy pattern - just a regular one!

The nice thing is, if I decide to use the original pattern on a fabric with more body, the original lines are still perfectly visible so potentially I can return to it.

ETA: Angela asks about show-through.  Indeed it's quite light, but this is intended as an over-blouse whose main purpose is to protect my skin from scorching sun and ubiquitous dust, so there'll always be a tanktop under it.  If it makes it back to Canada in any shape, I'm immodest enough to dare a casual outing with a skin-tone undergarment. Ahem. Maybe. In the garden, as the proverbial rose amongst the thorns.

Are five white shirts too many? Never!

As I said in the last post - for me, this is a most timely initiative, and the little white shirt button at left will take you to Barbara's "sewing on the edge" blog, where you'll have the opportunity to admire other sewists' pristine creations.

I have the following :  midweight textured linen, lightweight textured linen, lightweight smooth linen in cream (not white), a midweight crinkle cotton, and a floaty striped cotton voile.  Three of them will definitely become shirts, but the two midweight fabrics might turn into something a little more jackety - we'll see.

As to patterns:

One will definitely be the Vogue 1054 Chado Ralph Rucci overshirt.  I wrote the review for it a year ago, and it's still languishing in private mode, because I haven't yet photographed the shirt nor the shirtdress that I based on the same pattern.  Interestingly, though the shirt is a bit too casual, I wear the dress all the time - it's a classic, a dark grey self-patterned silk wool, perfect for work, perfect for accessorizing in any colour of the rainbow, and it garners lots of positive attention.  So, when I tear myself away from my sewing machine, finishing that review will move from my to-do to the done list.  That's the plan.

The second pattern I'm interested in is the blouse made by Terri, a very talented theatrical costume tailor who writes A Tailor Made It.  Her creations are fascinating, and they're usually for men, so a simple white lady's blouse coming from her is a unique treat. I'd have to adapt a simple darted bodice pattern to one with curves, but it should be doable, as she posted both the original German draft and her own pattern pieces.  New Look 6598 has similar bones: a cut-on collar and vertical front & back darts, so I'll start with that.

Thirdly, a crisp white blouse  made its debut within the last few days at Handmade by Carolyn.  It's a Burda pattern, with a charming curve to the fronts, and sashes for tying.  Beautifully feminine.

Fourthly, Irene, who started her Irene's Studio blog only this month, posted a perfect classic white blouse: bust plus vertical front & back darts - just last week.   Not only that, but she gave a few tips on how to slash-and-shrink as opposed to slash-and-spread; nice & useful for the skinny minnies among us.  Go over and visit her - up for barely three weeks and she's posted some luverly stuff already.

I'm sure there are plenty more white blouses out there in blogland - why not make your own linked list? 

In fact, let me just add a link to Les Merveilleuses - a for-ladies section of the Cutter and Tailor forum.  Not just about shirts, but some of the retro topics do include scans of various 20th C pattern magazines, if nothing else, to inspire us to maybe think of a different white blouse.  Later! right now I have to return to those four waistbands.  The clock's aticking!