When I joined the RTW Fasters I decided that not only would I not purchase any ready to wear for a whole year, I was going to challenge myself to make 52 garments in a year using up all the hundreds of fabrics in my stash that I have purchased over the years from all over the world. Wherever I travel, I am always looking for fabric stores. It is a terrible addiction but I love fabric and I am like a junkie I get a fabric high, it is so much fun. I just completed garment number two which is this blouse I made using a vintage Burda Pattern which I think I purchased in the 1980’s or early 1990’s, another addiction.
I went through my stash and found all the pieces of lace and eyelet fabrics that I had and believe me there were plenty. The problem was that I wanted this to be an ivory colored blouse as the fabric I had chosen to use for the back was an ivory pique that I had purchased a few years ago from Farmhouse fabrics. Not all my eyelet or lace pieces were ivory. That didn’t matter I pulled out some of my old Sew Beautiful magazines and found and article were Martha Pullen tells you how to dye white fabric to ivory by using tea and Vinegar. Whala! I had my ivory colored fabrics and laces.
Now it was time to decide which fabric to use for which part of the pattern. It took me a while to figure it out. I sewed some of the lace pieces together to form the front inset on the blouse once that was done it all seemed to just fit together. Burda Patterns are a really good fit. I never made any adjustments to this pattern. It has a Raglan inset sleeve which makes fitting easy no droopy shoulders as I have very narrow shoulders and I always have to recut the armhole. The pattern went together really easily and I am really happy with the end result. I have succeeded in using up of my fabrics and I have a beautiful blouse to wear. I have not worn it yet as it is freezing cold in Chicago. I will have to wait for Spring. Now to decide what to make for project number 3.
I went through my stash and found all the pieces of lace and eyelet fabrics that I had and believe me there were plenty. The problem was that I wanted this to be an ivory colored blouse as the fabric I had chosen to use for the back was an ivory pique that I had purchased a few years ago from Farmhouse fabrics. Not all my eyelet or lace pieces were ivory. That didn’t matter I pulled out some of my old Sew Beautiful magazines and found and article were Martha Pullen tells you how to dye white fabric to ivory by using tea and Vinegar. Whala! I had my ivory colored fabrics and laces.
Now it was time to decide which fabric to use for which part of the pattern. It took me a while to figure it out. I sewed some of the lace pieces together to form the front inset on the blouse once that was done it all seemed to just fit together. Burda Patterns are a really good fit. I never made any adjustments to this pattern. It has a Raglan inset sleeve which makes fitting easy no droopy shoulders as I have very narrow shoulders and I always have to recut the armhole. The pattern went together really easily and I am really happy with the end result. I have succeeded in using up of my fabrics and I have a beautiful blouse to wear. I have not worn it yet as it is freezing cold in Chicago. I will have to wait for Spring. Now to decide what to make for project number 3.