Monday, August 10, 2009

Butterick 4985

After I made my pretty peach skirt on Friday, I realized that I had absolutely nothing that went with it. Sounds like a good excuse to make a blouse! I've had this Butterick pattern that I have been wanting to try.And here it is! I made this on the Tipmatic also. She's a wonderful machine. I admit that I cheated a bit and let Janome make the buttonholes with her automatic buttonholer. I wasn't sure how to do the 4 step buttonhole on the Tipmatic and I only had one day to get his blouse together for church on Sunday.
I really like the way that this blouse is designed. As you can see, the upper bodice is gathered to allow for fullness in the bust and the lower bodice is princess seamed for shaping in the waist and hips. Beautiful!! Of course, I had to add a couple of inches to the bustline, but since the upper and lower bodices are separate, I couldn't just do an FBA. Instead I slashed from the bottom edge of the upper bodice, through the bust point and spread. I redrew the lower curve (adding a few centimeters of length to accommodate the new width), and then redrew the side seam at a greater angle, which preserved the shape of the armhole. And the fit is almost perfect! I should have given myself just a tiny bit more length, but you can't tell when it is worn, so I think it is fine, although next time I will give myself a wee bit more space.
I also changed the sleeve slightly from the original design. I though the sleeve band was a little fussy, and I wanted a more laid-back look, so I just added an elastic casing.
Here is the bodice with my self-fabric buttons. Cute, eh?
And here is the complete outfit!! I love it! It is definitely a new favorite. Not bad for 2 days of sewing on a machine at least as old as I am.

6 comments:

Grandma G said...

Great outfit... I love it! You did a beautiful job.

I think some of the old sewing machines have a lot going over the newer models of today. My Kenmore is 39 years old, and I'd never part with it. :-)

Amanda said...

Very cute! You know, I really love the colors in the fabrics you chose!

Antoinette said...

The top and skirt look great together! Isn't it fun to wear an entire outfit you made yourself?

Susan said...

That is soooo cute. Great pattern choice for that fabric.

Polly said...

the fabric and the color and the cutting is so so cute! love it!

TracyKM said...

Your one paragraph about doing the FBA is so much more concise and easier to understand than my three entire posts devoted to how I had to figure this out on my own, Aug 2010. I wish I had seen your blog back then! (Although, never having done a FBA, I probably still wouldn't have understood it and just went and did what I did, which was slash and pivot and sew and repeat till it fit, LOL).
Adorable top, now I have to add it to my pattern collection!