#NeedleWorkMonday :: I tried

She said it was going to be easy. "Just use my old blouse as the template, add some seam allowance, cut the fabric out and sew!" That was my mom talking and I believed her, until I started sewing.

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See, mom has an old sleeveless blouse, one that she loved wearing until the cloth grew thin and it started tearing at the edges. She still wore it but one day, it ripped at the back of the center. She knew it was time to say goodbye. But instead of bidding farewell to it, she passed me the blouse instead, asking that I replicate it. The keyword was "replicate".

I was hesitant at first and it took me a long while to get started. I have sewed something similar for her, a summer dress but that did not involve a full cut out shoulder hole. For the summer dress, I added two strips of ribbon or lace for the shoulder holes which was a simpler adventure.

I always have this thing that I might end up wasting the fabric because I have cut wrongly or sew wrongly. It needed a mental push and I pushed one day, after seeing Nike's tagline to "Just Do It!" on my t-shirt.

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Mom's old blouse was comfy. It also has a split at the bottom. I forgot to factor that part in. Comfy and split... hmmm... can I achieve that?

But the most challenging part was the neck and shoulder lines. My Archilles' heel when it comes to any needlework is anything curvy. The original blouse did not have any piping which I liked, or so I thought. My idea was just to double fold narrowly and sew along the edges, that should do it, right? Ermmm... maybe.

I laid the fabric flat on the floor, with mom's old blouse on top of the fabric and cut out the fabric, adding about 1 inch of a seam allowance all around. This was me, winging it. Mom said to do just that and in my head, I believed that it was possible too.

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First part was easy, my plan after cutting out the fabric was to sew the top. Two short lines and that was it. A happy, happy start.

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Then, it was sewing the sides and hemming the bottom. Easy peasy. All straight lines, all was good. All my favourite parts so far because the blouse still looked good. For the sides, I decided to do french seams for the fun of it. Hide the edges to prevent fraying. Oh, I almost forgot about the split and I managed to add that in. So far, so good.

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Then, I was ready for the tricky part. The curves. The plan was to first fold once, sew slowly and then fold again and continue to sew slowly.

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The first fold seemed to work but the curves started to curve a wee bit too much.

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After it was all done, I looked at it and felt the blouse was too small. It didn't look as spacious and comfy as mom's blouse and I felt the sides were small too. The shoulder lines too looked small. Darn. French seam was a bad idea. I forgot it would take up more fabric than what I have added at the sides and the blouse has shrunk because of it.

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I thought long and hard before I finally decided to rip open the french seams and sew just normal seam, hoping that it would add another inch to the sides.

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It took some painstakingly hour to rip open the side seams using my faithful seam ripper. Aaahh... what would I do without it? There were a couple of times, I just wanted to rip them open by pulling the fabric apart but luckily I didn't. Patience, my dear, patience.

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I resewed the sides and I think it looked slightly bigger, just very slightly. I packed it into a bag, closed my eyes and passed it to my mom. I told her that she might not be able to fit but I tried :D



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17 comments
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Were you holding your breath and clenching your teeth? That's what I do in these stressful situations! The top turned out beautifully, the seams look fantastic. It was a shame that you had to undo the french seams (they always look so beautiful), but even better to have a little room to move in a garment 😍. I use fabric cut on the bias for sewing curved seams in woven fabric. In the UK you can buy it as bias binding, and you can also make it from the fabric itself. Really clever people know how to fold a square of fabric and then cut it so you get a continuous strand of binding with just a little seaming to connect pieces here and there, but I never worked out how to do that 😍.

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(Edited)

Haha yes, clenching my teeth was definite and almost pulling out my hair too :D
Thank you @shanibeer 😘 The french seams does give a nice finishing but yah, too bad. I should have added more inches as seam allowance. You are so clever to use fabric cut on the bias! I have watched tutorials on making them but haven't quite understood it either. I always get lost in determining where is the bias! :D I should really pay attention to those tutorials. I bought some ready made bias binding too but was too lazy to give it a try (more fear than lazy because I have not tried sewing it before :D) and the colors that I bought didn't work with this fabric.
But you know what, I think I will try sewing another one. We learn from each mistake (I hope I do) :)

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oh, how annoying. but you did everything very right. Did your mom like your job? Did the blouse fit her?

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Thank you @tali72 <3 She hasn't given me a feedback and I somehow hope she didn't try wearing :D I have a feeling it wouldn't fit!

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Oh god!!!! I always hold my breath when you say you are sewing something simple, because honestly none of these project you have made is simple. Sewing a blouse for somebody else without pattern and without the possibility for fitting - wow. Definitely not easy. And then as a culmination you used unforgiving woven fabric with french seams. Can’t you convince your mother to wear only stretch fabric from now on? Best possibility would be kind of boxy tops with dropped sleeves: only straight angles and no fitting at all :-DDDD
Naturally I am joking a bit while admiring your fearlessness in sewing without pattern and honestly your top came out lovely. I so hope it will fit your mother. And with the curve, I also use either sleeves (sleeveless is not easier) or bias tape to finish the curves. I think @shanibeer already wrote about this.

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Dang... you are right... I should have tried on a stretch fabric. Hmmm... either that or sew another one but bigger this time :D Oh gosh what is a boxy top with dropped sleeves? I would like to try sewing one. I think that would work, straight lines! :D
Oh I think my projects are simple compared to the ones that you work on (I'm shy even thinking about it :D) You do frills and those beautiful dresses and coat! I wouldn't be able to do that. I get confused just looking at patterns hehe. Ah yes, I should try those bias tapes one day. I have them but I fear using them :D

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@marblely don’t be surprised at her persistence on that particular dress that’s how my mom is also when she finds a dress or something comfortable for here she just love that thing totally even when that thing is at the edge of getting spoilt she still prefers it even when you get here a new one exciting like that other one she still prefers to keep the new one alone with the old one she loves and even when the new one is presence she still won’t abandon that old one 😂 but lovely work you did there @marblely

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Haha.. but I do agree that old ones are really comfy. I too would wear mine till they are no longer wearable. Hmm where did I get that trait from ? :D
Thank you @smilestitches!

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😂 😂 I don’t know oooo🤷🏽🤷🏽 where you got it from 😂 😂

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