Here is one of my latest makes
A fitted white cotton eyelet blouse. I bought the fabric last year when fellow sewing blogger Esther took me to some Barcelona fabric stores. I only ended up buying one fabric (I try to be a picky buyer!) a gorgeous eyelet fabric in what feels like a really good quality.
Eyelet Fabrics
Now eyelet fabrics can be many things, and sometimes they border on being too delicate and cute for my taste. I prefer eyelet fabrics that look a more modern and grown-up and less like a christening gown. And this eyelet fabric fits that brief exactly, so I simply had to buy it. Plus I really wanted to make another eyelet blouse since I last made one about 10 years ago and it was long worn-down and retired.
I decided to use a tried and true shirt pattern since I wanted to make sure the fit was spot-on. This eyelet fabric is pretty rigid compared to regular shirting and thus not very forgiving for fitting issues. I used a Burdastyle blouse pattern from the May 2012 issue which is the same pattern as I used for my Liberty lawn blouse last year. What I particularly like about this pattern is that it has darts that are open at the hem.
I’ve used that kind of dart construction a couple of times before and really like how they look. Plus having visually appealing darts was especially important on this project since as the eyelet fabric is quite transparent. That also meant I couldn’t be sloppy with my seaming!
The collar and placket
Both are interfaced with silk organza, since using a fusible on eyelet fabrics seems like a really bad idea. In hindsight, I should have used cotton organdy instead, as it’s never a good idea to mix fabrics that have different washing properties. But alas, I didn’t have any cotton interfacing in my stash, so silk was what I ended up using. That said, I’ve machine washed the blouse on a regular delicate cycle and no issues luckily!
The buttons
I’m like putting statement buttons on my makes. It can be a slippery slope using statements buttons since I don’t want my makes to look all crafty class gone wild, but I do have a weakness for contrasting buttons and put a lot of effort into choosing them—I have a pretty big collection of buttons that I have amassed over the years, including a lot of vintage ones.
I also added cuffs to the sleeves, I think they make the blouse look more crisp and put-together.
Now, I have yet to wear this blouse properly since we have had a really stubborn cold winter here. Normally at this time of the year spring has arrived in the south of Sweden, but yesterday it snowed and this morning it’s even colder. We are heading into Easter here and often that means cardigan weather, but now I still have to wear winter jackets, mittens and a beanie each day. So I can’t wait for warmer days so that I can enjoy this blouse!
