Friday, July 29, 2011

Friday Fashions #18, Peasant Blouse Redesign.

So, a couple of years ago, I sewed this peasant blouse.  
It hasn't really been love at first sight, and I most definitely don't wear it all that often.  Its one of those tops that I pull out for those stay-at-home and be comfy rather than cute days.   Normally, I love peasant blouses, and I own several of them.  But, this one I just haven't liked.  Its felt a little homemade to me.  Its also extremely baggy and the flutter sleeves have a tendency of flipping up and I just don't like feeling quite so immodest. 
 I think partially why it feels so homesewn is the ric rac.  Thats not usually an embellishment normally seen on purchased clothing.
As you can see, the blouse is just really a little too loose.
 So, this Friday, I decided that I would try to redesign this top a little so that instead of wasting space in my closest, I will wear it!
 First off, I wanted to add to the embellishments at the neckline.
I think just adding a few rows of decorative stitching really did the trick.

 Second, I wanted to fix the sleeves by pulling them in. So, with elastic thread on my bobbin and regular thread for the topstitching, I sewed along the edge of each sleeve, pulling it in for a slight ruffle.   This is the same technique used for shirring.
Which, brings me to my third fix.  I planned on pulling the blouse in for an empire waist by adding a little shirring.   I've never shirred anything before, so I had to play with the settings on my machine for a while before I figured it out.  Finally got the right tension and boom, away I went.  I was so excited to have shirred something.  I was totally thinking that this would be a new technique I would be adding all over my stuff, until I tried on my blouse.
 Um, the idea was to bring everything in so that I looked slimmer.  With the shirring, I look like I am pregnant.  That's not really the look that I'm going for right now.   So, I brought out my seam ripper and proceeded to undo all of my hard earned learning.   What now?  I decided that I would alter the actual shape of the garment.  I grabbed my pins and pinning the sides of the blouse, created a curve to the garment so that the fabric goes in slightly at the waist before flaring at the hips.   I tried on the shirt a few times before I was certain I was happy with the shape.  Then I trimmed away the excess fabric and seamed the sides.
 I love the final result.  I still have a peasant blouse, just one that's slightly more fitted.

I no longer look pregnant! Hooray!    I'm fairly certain that I will now actually wear this peasant blouse!

2 comments:

amecham said...

Good job. That looks great. I have seen some tops with the shirring at the waist and several rows. Loved the sleeve fix and dec stitching.

Lindsay said...

Looks great on you! I'm impressed with your fixes.

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