When I started my new job back in July it was so hot! It still is! And you know how I love a good reason to sew some new clothes, right? ;) So I decided that, as I have nothing decent to wear with this weather, I needed something new! Something breezy but not too casual! I didn’t want a t-shirt but I wanted the comfort of a t-shirt! I found what I wanted over at Sewaholic, the Belcarra Blouse. And because I was really desperate (because I had nothing to wear! ;)) I made three of them. I had some concerns though! I usually don’t like wearing clothes that aren’t fitted. My body tends to loose all it’s contours when I wear wide cloths. But as I said: it was really hot and I gave it a try.
Usually I wear a size 6 when it comes to Sewaholic patterns, but because I was afraid the blouse would turn out too loose I cut size 4 and that worked out fine.
Somehow I always tend to have some issues with raglan sleeves. I don’t know what exactly it is but in the end I end up with too much fabric under my armpits! Strange! Unfortunately I didn’t think of that before I cut my 3 blouses, so now all of them have this issue. Fortunately the prints hide that a little!
Great thing is that you sew this blouse in woven fabrics! And I have a lot of left overs! The flowery fabric is a leftover from my first Flora Dress, BHL recommended way too much fabric! The fabric with the feathers is from a dutch fabric market and I already used this fabric for a blouse and a dress and now there is nothing left :( the fabric with the stars is a leftover from a jacket where I used it as lining, I haven’t shown the jacket on the blog yet.
The first two fabrics a mainly made from plastic, the one with the stars is rayon and all of them where a pain in the ass sewingwise.
The neckline is finished similar to a finish with bias binding. It is a little different though and for the first blouse I followed Tasias instructions and in the end I had to hand sew the binding to the neckline. So for the two other blouses I made a real bias binding finish and that went a little better.
Especially the rayon was hard to prevent from wrinkling and shifting but with a lot of steam and some time I got it under control.
I really like how the blouses turned out and I feel comfortable in them! They are not too loose and still breezy. Next time I would use another finish for the sleeves and I will try to get this extra fabric under the armpits problem under control.
Great thing is that I always have woven fabric left overs and so you can be sure to see this blouse on the blog again. :)
Macht’s gut!
Katharina
These look lovely. A nice little stash buster – its like getting free tops!
I have the PDF but never got around to making one yet.
What are you going to do the change the excess fabric under the arm? Just wondering…
Thanks Caroline. I’m not sure, I think I’ll just change the seam line, so that there is less fabric under my arms. But maybe I’ll need to add that fabric somewhere else I’m not sure. I think I’ll have to make a muslin..
Cute, Cute, Cute! All three tops are so pretty! With the prints, you can’t see the extra fabric under your arms. And why is it some of the nicest-feeling drapey fabrics are the worst to deal with! This style suits your figure well. :)