The Rosa shirt - first day style

I started my new job this week. It was pretty strange (and nerve racking) to be the new girl again after more than 9 years at the old place. I find that it always helps to have something new to wear on the first day!  I actually finished this project a few weeks ago but have been saving it to wear for the new job. 

I bought the Rosa shirt and shirt-dress pattern from the Tilly and the Buttons stand at the Handmade Fair, only a few days after it was released. I was excited about making this as I've never made a shirt before and there were a number of new techniques. The styling is very 70s which is an era I love. I also bought some gorgeous 'raindrop' fabric by Cotton and Steel from Maud's Fabric Finds on the same day. I was torn between grey/blue and grey/hot pink. I went for the hot pink in the end and bought some matching hot pink buttons from John Lewis to match. I was a bit nervous about all the topstitching in this project so decided to just use a coordinating grey thread in case I made any mistakes. I think this was a good choice in retrospect as additional pink stitching may have looked too much with the pattern on the fabric. 

The first thing that struck me was how many pattern pieces there were in this project. It too forever to trave off and cut out. I also managed to get one of the collar pieces wrong when cutting out so had to re-do this. The shirt uses princess seams with a mock-felled seam finish. Both of these are new techniques to me, but Tilly's instructions were fabulous as usual and I managed to get the hang of both pretty quickly. The topstitching was ok in the end, I just took my time and managed to finish it neatly.  I also took my time with the collar and am over the moon with how it turned out - I've struggled to get nest collars on other projects and this success was definitely down to the clear instructions. 

The sleeves are turned up, with a button tab to hold them in place. I tried this, but didn't like the look of the wrong side of the fabric showing. I used the fold up technique from the Poppy playsuit by Sew Over It to give the impression of turned up sleeves, but showing the right side of the fabric. The only mistake I made was the positioning of the top button. I was annoyed with myself about this, but it isn't that obvious when on, so not too bad.  I didn't have to make any adjustments to the do at all. I'll be making a dress version very soon!

Here I am wearing it on my first morning:

 

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: