Another month, another sew my style pattern complete!  This month was Cali Faye’s Valley Blouse.

This pattern is ideal for a fabric which drapes well so I rummaged through my stash and picked out which I have had a couple of years.  I kept thinking about making a dress with it, but the fabric is certainly suited as a blouse and I’m glad I used it.  There was the perfect amount of fabric too as I don’t have much left!

I followed Tilly’s tips on using this sort of fabric and used spray starch to reduce its movement during construction.  It worked a treat!

Details

• Pattern name: Valley Blouse – womens
• Variation/Style: N/A
• Design House: Cali Faye
• Size I made: S

Fabric

Double Georgette fabric found in a charity shop (was able to stash bust!) – fortunately the type of fabric was printed along the selvedge so I didn’t have to guess!

Difficulty

I would agree with Cali Faye’s classification of this pattern as intermediate.  While I didn’t have to alter the pattern for size as it is loose fitting, the fabric choice for a blouse is quite challenging as it moves more than sturdier woven fabrics.  Also, there are 3 buttonholes to tackle (unless you just add the buttons for decoration only which is possible).  The gathers on the sleeves and main shirt section can be challenging to get even too.

Clarity

I found the guidance and sewalong video by Jessica Lorraine very helpful when I got to the sleeve stage as I have never made a long sleeved top before.  It was useful that she highlighted the reason why french seams would not work for the sleeve seams too.  Apart from needing a bit more clarity on the sleeves, I found the instructions were clear overall.

Fit

It fits just fine, but then I have a preference for baggy clothes anyway!  I was concerned about the sleeve length (I have long arms) but it is just about long enough, which is great!

Design

I really like the blouse, although I do think it needs a nice fabric which drapes well.  Fortunately, this double georgette does that!  The starch hasn’t been washed out yet, so I’ll be interested to see if it relaxes a bit more after a wash.

Time Taken

I took my time with this make due to the fabric choice being challenging but also because it’s the first blouse I have made.  As a result it did take me several days scattered over the month!

Conclusion

I’m really pleased with this blouse.  I’m chuffed that I found fabric for it in my stash (which aligns with my 100 days of stash busting) which is really suitable for this project.  You could make a variety of this pattern and they’d probably all look very different from each other by simply changing the fabric pattern/colour!