Sewaholic Alma Blouse

  For my mom's birthday in October, I wasn't quite sure what she would like most, so when I asked for her size, I also asked if she would prefer a shirt, skirt, or dress. She wanted a dress. But from woven fabric, not knit! And then she requested that it be made from brown floral, so I took a trip to Jo-Ann's.

  Unfortunately, the only brown florals at Jo-Ann's were either quilting cotton, or shiny. I finally found a medallion-print rayon challis that seemed like it might work, and went to buy it, but sadly there were only 1.5 yards left. I'd already had a yard of brown suiting for the contrast cut at that point, so I just bought two more yards of that, and figured I'd just do my best to make it work for the full-priced dress pattern that I'd also bought!

  Then upon request the next day, I sent a photo of the medallion print to mom, who decided she would rather have a jacket. I suggested a blouse, and she agreed, so I bought the Sewaholic Alma blouse pattern to use with it. I made view C with no sash (not enough fabric) and raised the neckline 1" in the front as well as lengthening the bodice 2 inches at the lengthen/shorten line.

  The pattern was well-made, and the instructions were good. The armscyes seem pretty low as drafted. It prints over 43 pages for all of the views, but that's including a separate front bodice for the notched neckline version, as well as under and upper collar pieces.

  The sleeves are on the long side, and the cuffs were quite loose, but otherwise this fit my mom pretty well! Better than I hoped, for sure! The sleeves have a simple continuous bound placket for the vent... I probably would have found the instructions for that part confusing if I hadn't made this type of placket before.

  I under-stitched the facing, although the pattern doesn't call for it, and added a label to the back:

  I serged all of the seams for a simple and quick finish. This was my first time using rayon challis, and it really wanted to shift around on me until I lightly starched everything, after which it behaved beautifully for both sewing and pressing.

  Next time I'll be a little more specific when I give anyone options for their gift... it'll make things simpler! ;-) But I'm glad I had a chance to sew this pattern, and I may sew it up again for myself at some point... I'm just outside the size range but the pattern has just enough ease that it'll probably work anyway. (And yes, I'll muslin it first!)

Thanks for stopping by,