Blouses and Tops – Page 2 – Stitch Sessions

March 31, 2020January 25, 2023

Simplicity 2151 – Pussybow Blouse Shirts

Nell, a Caucasian person, stands in front of a wooden bench and concrete wall. They are wearing a blue and green plaid shirt, with puffy sleeves and a pussybow blouse necktie. They are also wearing blue jeans, and are holding the ends of the tie.

Hello friends. One thing that gives me a lot of comfort at the moment is following along with other people’s sewing and seeing what other projects we’re all working through. It’s inspired me to continue working through my own growing pile of secondhand patterns, seeing what I can create with the fabric I have on hand and how creative I can be with the scraps. It’s a chance to flex my creative muscles. I do have a few bits and pieces in mind, and have already begun investigating the possibility of making my own bias binding from odd pieces – leaving the fabric from some old sheets as pocket lining and things like that. But first on my list was this gorgeous blouse pattern, Simplicity 2151, in combination with this secondhand fabric I’d had for about two months or so.

March 16, 2020January 25, 2023

McCall’s M6436 – Collared Shirts!

Nell, a Caucasian person, stands in front of a wooden bench and concrete wall. They are wearing a blue floral button-up shirt with a band collar, and blue jeans. They have one hand on their hip.

It’s no secret that I love button-up, collared blouses. My regular work wardrobe is comprised almost exclusively of collared shirts, cardigans, sweaters to be mixed and matched with black slacks. It allows me to sneak a bit of 50’s and 60’s style into my professional wardrobe, which pleases me to no end. So I am always on the lookout for more collared blouses when I am out hunting for secondhand goodies, and have gotten quite lucky over time in finding a few in very good condition. My current wardrobe is in fact comprised entirely of secondhand and me-made blouses now, which I consider quite an achievement. However, there is still something I am lacking. And that is the truest of staple blouses, the white collared blouse.

March 9, 2020January 25, 2023

Pattern Drafting – Peasant Blouse

Nell, a Caucasian person, sits on a wooden bench in front of a concrete wall. They are wearing a floral peasant blouse and black highwaisted pants.

As much as I love living Australia, being so far from some of the largest viable sources of secondhand fabric and patterns does mean learning to sew can get very expensive. For a lot of people I often hear that it’s prohibitively expensive, especially as very few stores allow payment plans for purchasing machines and tools. So it seemed natural to me that at some point I would need to learn how to do some pattern drafting in order to make the things that I couldn’t find a pattern for. And what better place to start than with my Holy Grail vintage item, the classic peasant blouse.

February 26, 2020January 25, 2023

Simple Sew Lottie Blouse

Nell, a Caucasian person, stands facing the camera in front of a wooden bench and concrete wall. They have their arms in the air and one leg raised. They are wearing a sleeveless shirt with a white and blue square pattern and a pussybow necktie, and black jeans.

Hold onto your hats Theydies and Gentlethem, because I am about to tell you something shocking. What I want to tell you is that it’s normal to fail. As scandalous as that might sound, I believe that it doesn’t matter how old we get or how experienced we are, we will always make mistakes. And I don’t say that in a completely negative way either. Certainly failure is disappointing, mistakes are frustrating, and wouldn’t it be great if things worked perfectly all the time? Well, sure. But how good does it feel to come out the other side of a series of failures with one precious success? How much do we learn from when things go wrong, versus when there’s not a single bump in the road? How connected do we feel to others when they share their mistakes? Personally, I love those stories. So let me share the story of the many failures that led to the amazing success of the Lottie Blouse.

February 1, 2020January 25, 2023

The Ogden Cami – Good for hot weather days!

Nell, a Caucasian person, stands in front of a blue couch with a colourful cushion. They have both fists lightly closed and resting on their hips. They are wearing black highwaisted pants, and a golden coloured camisole top.

I think it’s safe to say that at some point in many sewer’s journeys, we can become addicted to Indie Patterns. For those who haven’t yet taken the plunge, these are patterns made by independent designers, separate to the big name sewing companies like McCall’s, Vogue, etc. Indie Patterns also tend to be the most common things I see people making on social media, which I now realise helps to drive up the desire to own and make them yourself.

January 31, 2020January 25, 2023

McCall’s 7233 – One colourful blouse!

Nell, a Caucasian person, stands facing the camera in front of a wooden bench and concrete wall. They have one hand on their hip. They're wearing highwaisted black pants, and a colourful long-sleeve blouse with a tie around the collar.

I honestly think this pattern was the start of my fascination with vintage sewing patterns. I managed to snag it at an op-shop near where I work, for $2 – an absolute steal, and the fabric was a lovely thick fabric I found at a different op-shop again. The buttons were also a set I had picked up for 20c at the same op-shop where I found the fabric. So it seemed to me that the stars had simply aligned, determined to make this pattern a success.

January 28, 2020January 25, 2023

Butterick B6563 – Blouses and Tricky Fitting!

Nell, a Caucasian person, sits facing the camera in front of a grey concrete wall. They are wearing highwaisted black pants, and a sleeveless, watercolour patterned blouse with a tie around the collar.

It felt like a fitting place to start blogging with Butterick B6563. These blouses weren’t the first things I sewed, I dabbled in some more costume-type projects with my Mum a few years ago first, but they represent very different places in my sewing journey.