I decided to make three (actually, I have made four, but I forgot to photograph one of them!) more of the Shapely Blouses from Singer Perfect Plus -
This last photo best captures the color, and yes, I know, it really needed another pressing before it's debut!! The previous shirt had a lot of excess in the back near the bottom of the seam, so I took this out and I think it looks a lot better now. I serged all the seams and added a faux-fell seam to all seams (which unfortunately does not show on these photos). I found that it has given a more professional looking finish.
This second shirt is from a natural linen. Same design/finishes etc -
Pretty much the same as the chartreuse one, but I managed to find some mid-brown semi-opaque button that look rather lovely! I used my Singer Featherweight again for the buttonholes (oh how I love that machine!) This is the first time that I have sewn with linen - so I made sure that I followed all the advice to wash/dry it multiple times! But boy, I was not prepared for the way the stitches just 'sink' into the fabric when it is pressed. Lovely!
The last shirt is made from a woven striped patter. As it does not crease very much I suspect that it has some poly in it, and it came from my Mum's collection -
A couple of quick comments - I managed to pick up some coat-hangers that have a black 'flocked' finish to them, almost like velvet. They were terribly cheap, but they really 'grip' the shoulders of my tops, especially shells and knitwear - and you can see them poking out in some of these photos.
Secondly, I have to apologise for not having 'posed' photos. Having recently moved house (OK, that was almost 6 months ago!) I can't find my tripod and never seem to be organised enough to arrange a photo shoot when I have a photographer around. However, these clothes will be coming with me on my holidays next month so I will get lots of 'real' pics then!!
I do find that tops are my nemesis - I can sew up skirt or some simple trousers quite quickly now, so I am rather thrilled to be able to sew up these tops that fit pretty well and look good. I plan to play around with the pattern and lift the neckline, add long sleeves and maybe add an attached facing as the collar and facing on these take up about 1/2m of interfacing. Phew!
How about you - what is your sewing nemesis?
