Silk Blouse - Vogue V1333

*dances with excitement*

I made a shirt!

I made a BLOUSE!

A SILK blouse!

*does dougie*

lol As you can tell, I am very excited.

This is my second garment made from scratch, and my FIRST garment made from a commercial pattern. 

Why I chose a Vogue pattern to be my first?

I. D. K.

But I made it through and learned ALOT in the process.

I used this fabric that I got on sale at JoAnn's.

I knew what I was going to make with it even before I left the store.

I got this pattern for free with the purchase of a Craftsy class.

Little did I know, the class had nothing to do with the top lol It was all about the skirt.

But... I'm not very fond of the skirt, so I took my chances figuring out the top on my own.

(sidenote: I just want to say the Craftsy class"40 Techniques Every Sewer Should Know" is like GOLD)

I made the blouse to the finished garment measurments that were closest to my body measurements which probably wasn't the BEST idea because I originally envisioned it being loose and flowy.

Maybe if I decide to make this again, I'll add an inch all the way up the side seams and add an inch to the length of it as well.

only four pattern pieces

And it has BUTTONHOLES!!

My cousin, LaToya, can attest to HEART ATTACK I was about to have before putting my buttonholes on my shirt!
I made sure to use some scrap fabric to practice first

But with the help of my girl Nadia and THIS video, I got through it. Always there when I need her lol

(She helped me learn how to thread my machine and bobbins months ago)

I also forced my cousin to say a prayer over each one before I started sewing them LOL (there are seven)

A couple of times, the machine would get stuck right in the middle of sewing the buttonhole and I would yell at her "ARE YOU PRAYING?!" lool

But they came out great! Prayer works lol

Because this fabric is silk, it frays like CRAZY.

LUCKILY, I bought a serger a few weeks ago!

I serged all of the side seams and all of the facings.

I also serged the darts that I had to cut open.

Oh! And I also understitched the back facing because it kept flying up and being annoying.

Look at me adding in my own little tweaks! lol *does jig*

The hem of the garment and sleeves is done with steam-a-seam.

I was only supposed to use 1/4" steam-a-seam tape but unfortunately I hadn't read the directions correctly and picked up 1/2".

This can probably account (a little bit) for where the bottom of the garment sits.

But I think it turned out great for my first pattern!

Things I've learned

1. Pin slippery fabric down to cut it.

I had a cardboard cutting board so being able to stick pins in it to hold the fabric down was AWESOME.  I do want a cutting table but I think this cardboard will work perfectly fine for now.

2. How to use my serger

I took me forever to make sure everything was threaded correctly because my upper and lower looper threads kept breaking. Once I got it, it worked like a charm.  I also found out how to use the knife to cut down seam allowances too.  I LOVE my serger! It's so awesome! lol And it makes things look so professional.

3. How to Improvise

Because my fabric is printed so obnoxiously, I didn't know how I was going to mark it to align my buttonholes. What I did was pin the stabilizer on the fabric all the way up the facing and then pI marked the STABILIZER which is see through. It worked very well.  If you have any tips on how I could have done this differently, PLEASE let me know. I'm definitely willing to learn how to properly do this lol

ALSO, I had no idea on how to transfer marking for darts onto this fabric.

Seriously, if there is some trick, let me know!

I ended up using 4 pins for each dart to know where they were and put them together accordingly. It was difficult.

Front pattern pieces with darts sewn and pressed

Back pattern piece with darts sewn and pressed to the inside

4. The importance of different needles and their sizes

While I had been sitting here thinking that the needles that came with my machine didn't have sizes on them.. they are definitely finely CARVED into each needle -__-.

And I was using this terribly huge needle to work with my silk and it kept leaving holes whenever I had to rip a seam or take out basting stitches.

Sooo I bought a needle organizer and put the correct needle in my machine.

I noticed that some needles need specific thread as well. Can't wait to experiment :-)


Thanks for reading!
Let me know what you think!
See you in the next post!

xoxo, Tasha