I made a trial copy of a long sleeve, both to test the pattern I made and to make sure I could follow the instructions. The placket was the tricky part; both because it's technically a bit challenging and because I kept re-reading the instructions going "They want me to do *what?!* Bwah?!" I finally just gave up and got started; it made sense as I ( Read more... )

I'm working on the cat stole (halfway through the first cat!), but still chewing over designing the pattern for a long-sleeve blouse ( Read more... )

It's still very much up in the air, but if I do make a shirt for the costume I'm contemplating, I'd prefer it to have long sleeves ( Read more... )

The teal tiger blouse, while quite comfortable, is actually a bit too wide in the shoulders (as is the one I copied it from). In theory, it should be simple enough to shorten the shoulder seams slightly when recopying the pattern. Except that that would change how the sleeves fit in. And adjusting those could get tricky ( Read more... )

Last summer, my favorite short-sleeve blouse, which I've had for about 15 years, got stained. As I said at the time, I would like to copy it (I have this book on making patterns from finished clothes...). But I had never made a blouse before, and it's a slightly complicated pattern: yoke, pleat in the back. A friend suggested that I buy a pattern ( Read more... )

Aha! I've figured out why this blouse is too small. I hadn't noticed before, but the pattern measurement given on the pattern envelope is for the finished garment. The other, more complex pattern gives both body measurement and finished garment size on the envelope; the latter is more than ten inches bigger than the former ( Read more... )

I've almost finished making myself a new blouse, mostly as a test to see how it's done. The only thing left is the buttons and buttonholes. When I tried it on, however, it seems to be too small--specifically, too tight across the chest. This despite the measurements on the pattern making it seem the right size ( Read more... )