Monday 25 April 2016

A new wardrobe staple - the Susie blouse

The Susie blouse pattern was released as a pdf pattern only last month by Sew Over It. Having had success with the Joan Dress and the Ultimate Pencil Skirt patterns, I bought it straight away. It's a pretty versatile pattern with three sleeve lengths that can be worn for work or more casual with jeans. As the pattern was on special offer, I treated myself to some lovely cotton lawn from Maud's Fabric Finds to make my first version with. 

The one downside (and I think it's quite a big one) is that it is only sold as a pdf.  I used to buy pdf patterns when I first started sewing to save money, until I realised I would happily pay a few extra pounds to save myself the hassle of printing, cutting and sticking together with sellotape. It took over an hour of my precious and limited sewing time just to get the pattern together. Once I'd finally done this, I was unsure about which sleeve length to make, so I asked Thomas (age 4).  He was very clear that I should make the long sleeved version, so that's what I cut. 

I found the fabric lovely to work with, as I have with other cotton lawns from Maud's. The blouse is a pretty quick project with no fastenings and only darts at the bust. I ended up having to fold and hand stitch the facing together at the v-neck as it kept poking out, even though I followed instructions. The long sleeved version includes a cuff at the wrist, so involves slightly more sewing than the other versions, but not much. 

When I first tried this on with jeans, I felt like the body was too baggy and was actually unflattering. However, I tried it tucked in to a pencil skirt and loved it. My Mum and Sister have also recently made versions of the Susie blouse, and they said the same. I will definitely be making again, probably as a work wardrobe staple, but I'd try it in the next size down to wear with jeans. 

Here is the finished result:


3 comments:

  1. Your blouse is lovely. I'm about to make this. I'm curious what size you made as it appears to have a lot of ease unlike other sew over it patterns. I'm thinking of making a 10 as four inches of bust ease seems a lot!

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  2. Your blouse is lovely. I'm about to make this. I'm curious what size you made as it appears to have a lot of ease unlike other sew over it patterns. I'm thinking of making a 10 as four inches of bust ease seems a lot!

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  3. Hi Catherine - thank you! I made a size 10 as I am a size 10 in other SOI patterns (Joan Dress and Ultimate Pencil Skirt). It does have a lot of ease and I think I'll make an 8 next time. The larger size looks fine tucked in, but work loose just looks too big x

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