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:
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.
Looks great on you! I'm impressed with your fixes.
Post a Comment