KnipMode blouse - a lot of tweaking

After all that harsh blue I was in the mood for something a bit more cheery.
The fabric I'm using for my next project has been attracting my attention for a long time. It's a lovely vibrant lilac colour with embroidery. I had no idea what to do with it, until I found this pattern:

I love all the pleats, the round neckline, the short sleeves. I just love the whole silhouette of this blouse. Especially the way how the pleats are sewn down from the waist to the hem. This gives a nice fulness in the upper part of the blouse, but creates at the same time a more fitted lower part. Very much to my liking. There are however some issues. Things that need changing.







The (lower) pleats
Unfortunately, the pleats that work so well in the front, are misbehaving in the back just above the waistline.
What I will do is sew the pleats up from the waist and treat them like darts. This should take away some of the excess fabric.

The neckline
The neckline is also very wide, although the picture is not showing that very well. (The model wearing this in KnipMode is wearing a jacket over the blouse, covering almost 90% of it. Damn...is KnipMode doing a 'Burda-ish cover-up' or what??)  I could wear it like this, but I would be very conscious all the time wether it would drop off my shoulders, because there is a serious chance of that happening if I don't change it. The original instructions tell you to zigzag or serge the neckline, so no seams or binding are used to finish it. That would mean the neckline stays exactly as it is now. There are 2 things I could do to solve this:

1. Deepen the neckline-pleats.
2. Put a flat round band on it, which means drafting a new pattern-piece to place on top of the neckline.

I'm strongly leaning towards option 2, but I could try option 1 first to see if that would help.

The sleeves
I already widened the sleeves a bit by cutting the patternpiece and moving the pieces away from each other. Then I redrafted the new sleeve. I think I could have done without this alteration but it's ok as it is.

Stay tuned if you want to find out how this ends. I hope it ends gooood  ;-)

Lilian


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

My preferred way of finishing necklines and armscyes on a knit shirt

Image
This week I'm enjoying my autumn break. A whole week to do some much needed sewing. The plan is to do some easy sewing. Nothing too complicated. Last friday I started on a cardigan for which I revisited the pattern I used  here  and   here . And my next make is already finished as well: a nightgown, made from a lovely cotton jersey which is a dream to work with! I already made one before with the same type of fabric (black with flowers) and it gets worn a lot. The fabric I used is bought with this nightgown in mind. I thought it would be fun to show you how I finished the neckline and armscyes. It's a very easy method and I prefer it over the method where you fold the band and sew it on, double layered. It's a thin line between stretching the band too much and causing puckers or not stretching it enough so it won't lay flat. For me it's hard to get that right. But with this foldover method it's actually easy-peasy.  Make sure when you cut your pattern you don...
Read more

Let's start 2011 with Top 3b from KnipMode 2008-08

Image
Yoohooo...best wishes for 2011 everyone!!! I hope you all had a great time celebrating. I know I'm a bit late. But the fact is that I spent the last week in bed because of a flu that had me down in more than one way. Things seem to be looking up however and it was about time I showed my face. O, wait, that's another story. I'm not showing my face yet for I have an infection on my chin at the place where a mole has been removed 5 weeks ago. It was for pure cosmetical reasons and I can't seem to shut up that little voice in the back of my head saying: "Serves you right for being vaaaaain...!!". I have some cream for it since yesterday and next monday I'm gonna pay my physician another visit to have it checked. I was hoping for a recovery with an almost invisible scar. Now I'm just hoping for a recovery. Strange, how easy you adjust your expectations. Luckily I have a very pretty, headless model in my house. That's right, The Blue Lady. And she ...
Read more

My (re)view on KnipMode September 2015 - The Make-over

Image
Months ago it was announced : Knipmode was going to get a make-over. Main change was gonna be an adjustment in the range of sizes. Each pattern was going to be offered in sizes 34 to 54. And as it goes with everything that is announced far in advance, suddenly the day has come that you find the new magazine in your mailbox. In this post I would like to give my opinion on the changes that have been made. Feel free to disagree.  From: KnipMode Magazine - September 2015 The first thing you notice is the size of the magazine . I didn’t measure it but I think that it’s about an 1/2 inch larger in width and 1 inch in height. Does that matter? I think it does. Apart from more room for larger pictures, they used a larger font size for the descriptions, which is easy on the eyes. Next thing  is the cover . The previous covers were made of shiny paper. Now it’s matte, firmer and more solid. Nice! Altough I cherish my old issues of KM and Burda, more th...
Read more