NewLook 6563 - Teal floral blouse w/ front tucks - Wardrobe contest garment #7

Woot! Another garment for the PR Wardrobe Contest is completed and there's finally some light to get the photos taken in. I originally planned to use this fabric with McCall's 5809, but it turned out to be a wadder so I had to find something else. This pattern has been in my stash for years; I'm not sure what took me so long to make it up. The fabric is a polyester chiffon from JoAnn's that I bought earlier in the year. It was part of their Monaco collection that I bought quite a few cuts of. Here is the post for the pants.

These sleeves are so pretty and feminine with their long flowy shape and gathers at the sleeve heads and bottom band. They look peasant-y to me like my most recent wadder, only without the ginormous amount of width.

This was suppose to be a bit more loose fitting. I measured the pattern piece before I cut it out, but forgot to subtract the 6 front tucks. Oh well, I love it anyway.

Here you can see the front tucks, button-and-loop closures, and slightly ruffly peplum. Didn't I luck out with the buttons? They are the perfect size and color. I did a bunch of little tweaks to this design:
1. Added 1/2" to the bottom of the bodice
2. Added 1/4" to the bottom of the peplum pieces. They only allow 3/8" hem and those are fiddly to sew, especially on a curve
3. Added a fabric inset along the button line to prevent exposing my skin
4. Took a 5/8" seam along the neckline instead of the 3/8" of the pattern - again, fiddly to sew


Here's the before-mentioned fabric inset. Why don't they include this in the pattern pieces or instructions? Without it, the slightest move exposes skin and/or undergarments.

This is the super skinny bottom sleeve band. I have been scared of these in the past, especially if it's bias cut. But this time around I compared it to the pattern piece and then starched it. I used three lines of gathering stitches for the sleeve bottoms and sleeve caps and had no problem making the gathers evenly spaced.

This pattern did call for bias tape to finish off the neckline edge, which I love to do. I also added it along the sleeve seam for a pretty finish. I again had luck with finding the right shade of teal for the bias tape.

I did french seams throughout. This picture is of the side seam and peplum side seam. If your fabric isn't too see-through you can alternate ironing the seam to the front and then the back. This cuts down on bulk.

I've got several other things to show you later, but for now I must go sew. This contest is kicking my butt!!! Poor Justin is playing with the kids all day today to give me more time at the machine.