FO: The Sassy Stork Blouse (+ Craftsy Class Review)

I'm pretty all over the place when it comes to my sewing projects. I'm an avid planner - I plan the projects I want to make and even mentally earmark the fabrics to make them with, but that doesn't mean they get made by any certain time. I've wanted to make the Sassy Librarian Blouse from the Craftsy Class back when it was one of their only sewing classes. I've seriously had this class for at least 5 years. When I first bought the class, I downloaded the pattern and got everything put together pretty quickly ... then I looked at the size chart. I was several inches outside the max in the waist and hip. I was bummed at the time, but I always figured I would just grade the pattern up, but it was way beyond my skills back then. So this project sat. I still always loved the style and planned to make it, but I just never made the muslin to figure out the fit changes I needed to make. A few weeks ago I finally decided I'd waited enough and wanted to get one made at long last - all because of an adorable fabric I was super anxious to wear.

This fabric is from the From Porto With Love collection by Cotton + Steel and I adore these storks, folks. Aren't they awesome?! This is the perfect quirky print that isn't too overly cutesy, so I feel comfortable wearing it in everyday life. Also this peachy coral color is one of my favorites - it's the best pink for my coloring. I grabbed 2 yards of this in January at The Sewing Studio which really lit the fire under my butt to finally figure out this pattern. I love button up shirts, but I had never made one because I knew I would need to alter whatever pattern I used and I always chose to make something else instead. Now I have a super cute basic button up I can make at will :)

The reason I wanted to make this pattern so bad is undoubtedly the adorable collar. The class shows you how to make this version with the collar as well as another option with no collar, pin tucks at the front, and a tab with a bow on the top button - also really cute, and I will certainly be making one of those too. For my first try, I went for that collar. Let's look at it a little closer: 

I know my birds distract a bit, but it's there and I love it. I had to cut the collar in two pieces instead of on the fold so that I could keep the birds the right way up - not a big deal at all, and it meant the pattern used less fabric (which was a good thing since I was down to scraps by the end). The collar is a very simple shape with pointed ends - so much easier than a rounded collar to get it looking nice!  For the buttons, I hunted through my stash and came across these lovely pearlescent white ones. I grabbed these at The Sewing Studio in a whole tube for $2.00, so these were dirt cheap. They are thicker than average, and when making buttonholes just using the diameter of the button, I couldn't get the buttons through the hole. I had to dig out a 5/8" button (the ones I used were 1/2") and use that as the guide for my button holer. This is why it's always best to make a practice button hole on a scrap, and I'm really glad I got in that habit long ago. Also since we're zoomed in, I'll mention my one beef with this shirt - I was squeezing all my pieces onto just 2 yards to cut, and I made sure to keep the birds somewhat lined up when I cut just to keep the visual effect random, but that was all I checked. Wouldn't you know I wound up with duplicate birds right next to each other across the buttons? Ugh. It's not a huge deal since the pattern is pretty busy, so I don't think the average-non-sewer would notice. I just have to not think about it.

You can see my seam at the back of the collar in the back view. So now I just have a few birds yelling at each other, which I'm all about. As far as getting this to fit me, I had a bit of a duh moment in my muslin making. The pattern calls for fish eye darts on the front and back to pull the waist in 50s style. I don't have a 50s waist at all, so after measuring the pattern pieces I decided to cut my muslin to the pattern but leave off the fish eye darts. Problem solved! I did angle the hip out just a bit for a little more ease, but that was the only change I made other than leaving off the waist darts. I can't believe I waited 5 years because of such a simple problem.

So I'm completely loving my shirt! I love this fabric, and I love the neckline. I already have a few fabrics lined up for more shirts like this (some that are years old and bought just for this pattern). I really want to try the pin tuck front of this pattern too, so I'm sure you will see more of them. Yay for finally buckling down and getting this made up :)

Summary:
Fabric: 2 yards of From Porto With Love Stork print quilting cotton by Cotton + Steel - $7.38
Pattern: The Sassy Librarian Blouse Craftsy class by Christine Haynes
Notions: pink thread - $2.00, Pellon SF101 interfacing - $1.00, 6 buttons - $0.20
Time: 6 hours
Total Cost: $ 10.58

Class Review:
Also as far as the class goes, it's very in depth - in fact WAY more so than Craftsy's newer offerings. This is both good and bad. The good thing is that you get lots of little tidbits from Christine to help you sew throughout the class. The bad thing is that if you don't need all the beginner information and just want to sew the blouse you still have to watch the whole class as you go to get the instructions as there are no printed instructions. I understand they probably don't want you to be able to print the pattern and sell it, etc, but it does make it a little annoying to try and fish through the class for the next step if you're more experienced with sewing clothes. So again - not a bad thing per se, just the class is more designed for beginners. Also there really isn't much said about what to do to get the pattern to fit you - it just tells you to make a muslin and make it fit - not giving much in the way of recommendations for alterations. I do remember that years ago when I first bought the class, it was super informative - in fact I still sew darts the way Christine shows in the class to this day. It's definitely worth a watch through to pick up new techniques plus the pattern is really cute. I would definitely recommend this class, or maybe even give it a watch on Craftsy Unlimited :)

*This post is not sponsored and I purchased this class with my own money. The post does contain affiliate links and I will get a small commission if you decide to buy the class. All opinions are 100% my own - I just really like this blouse :)

FO: Marianne Top

It's my first finished sewing project of the year! Yay! This project was thrown together in a desire to make up a new-to-me pattern and I'm so glad it all came out well.

This is the Marianne Dress by Christine Haynes Patterns but shortened to a top. I like the style of this dress when she released it a while back, but I'm never one to wear a knit dress and I was unsure about the drop sleeve, so I stayed away. Fast forward to the end of the year when Craftsy put on their major clearance sale. I usually look at the yarn and fabric, but this time I decided to check out their Patterns category, and what should I find there but paper copies of the Marianne Dress, Emery Dress, and Lark Tee all on sale for a little over $6. I was sold! All three of these were patterns I've wanted to try but held off because they were technically things I could draft myself therefor I didn't want to put in the time of taping together a pdf and tracing, plus I can never stomach paying shipping fees for a pattern that's already close to $20 - it just feels silly. But at $6 plus free shipping, I was a buyer :)

My favorite features of this design (and what made me want to get the pattern) are the colorblocked yoke and the button sleeve cuffs. Aren't they cute?! Yay buttons! I may have loves of knit shirts in my handmade arsenal, but none with those details. My Craftsy shipment happened to arrive on my day off, so I immediately traced off a size 16 bust and graded to an 18 hip according to my measurements. Since this is an indie designer, I figured it wouldn't have as much ease as the Big 4 patterns do and I trusted the size chart. I was working completely from my stash since this was such a sudden make, and I really loved the idea of finally using this paisley floral rayon knit I bought as a remnant from Joann's a while back. It was only a 3/4 yard piece, but being 60" wide and so cheap I decided to grab it in hopes of using it for something with colorblocking someday. Yay for ideas coming to fruition! It's a lovely fabric that's super soft with lots of swingy drape - perfect for a shirt with a loose fit.

When I decided on using the floral knit, I pulled out all the solids in my stash that might possibly go with it. My main choices were medium gray, black, and navy - as you can see the navy won out. I liked how the navy let the blue in the design pop a bit more. The navy is a Maggy London rayon jersey I got online from Fabric Mart a while ago (they no longer have it, but it's a nice fabric). When it came time to make the neckband, I decided to go with the floral knit mainly because I didn't want to use too much of my navy fabric, lol, but I like how it turned out. I think it ties it all together.

Now that I've talked about the good, let's talk about the not so good. I'm still not sure about the drop shoulder design on me. I have very sloped shoulders, so anything dropped usually makes me look like a hunch back. I don't get quite that vibe here, but what I do get is a major bat wing arm pit - which I am not a fan of. I like the top just fine until I raise my arms at all. I can't decide if the top is just too big at the bust or if that's a design feature and meant to be this loose. In this drapey rayon fabric I think the looseness works, but if I made this in a cotton I think it might look huge. I'm sure I'll find that out in the future sometime. I also don't love the placement of the yoke seam - personally I think it should be about 1 inch higher - that was something I feared from looking at other's finished projects before making this, but I decided to just make it as drafted and see for myself. It's not a deal breaker by any means, and I still like this top, but next time I will definitely raise the seam at least 1 inch. 

My other issue was not from the pattern but from the fabric. This is the first project I used my Silver Star ES300 gravity feed iron on, and I made sure to turn it down a bit and use the teflon shoe when pressing all my seams, but I still ended up scorching my fabric in a few places. I noticed it first when I applied fusible interfacing to stabilize the shoulder, so I turned the iron down, but the navy blue fabric ended up with impressions on the right side where any of my seams are - and I pressed them from the inside out. I've had this happen with rayon jersey before, but I thought it was maybe some polyester mixed in at the time. Now I'm wondering if this is common with rayon jersey? Anyone know? Anyway, the other shots here are just of the fantastic button cuffs, the lovely fabric, and the twin needle hem. The buttons were a thrift store buy from my stash and I thought the white would be a nice pop in such a busy fabric. I've had issues with hemming rayon jersey recently - I end up with one row of stitching only going through 1 layer of the fabric sometimes, which leads to major tunneling - so this time I decided to fold over a full inch and then still top stitch at 5/8ths and it worked great. This fabric is so slinky that it just needs that extra 1/4" of security for the hem. I still used my beloved woolly nylon thread in the bobbin :)

As far as pattern instructions go, these were great. Everything was clearly explained with diagrams to show you what to do, so even a complete beginner to sewing knits could easily make this top. I will say that this is the first time I've sewn a knit neckband this way, and I had my doubts at the time, but other than the pressing marks around the neckline it looks great.

Overall I'm really pleased with this top :) It had it's issues, but for it technically being a muslin I'm thrilled it turned out so wearable. I definitely have plans for more tops like this - I just love those button cuffs! I'd love to go full Breton style and make a striped version eventually. With a few tweaks, I think this could become a new tnt pattern!

Summary:
Fabric: 3/4 yard Paisely Purple Rayon Spandex Jersey remnant from Joann's - $3.00, 1/3 yard Maggy London Navy Rayon Jersey from Fabric Mart (now sold out) - $1.50
Pattern: Marianne Dress by Christine Haynes Patterns - $6.30
Notions: Black Sew KeyZ knit stay tape - $0.25, navy blue thread - $0.50, gray woolly nylon thread - $0.10, 4 white shank buttons - $0.25 (thrifted)
Time: 5 hours (including tracing)
Total Cost: $11.90