It’s been a while since I’ve written a blog post but a new-to-me pattern and a couple of tricky areas, meant that I thought other makers might find this one useful!
I got a free copy of the Sade Blouse by Named Patterns with Simply Sewing magazine. It didn’t initially catch my eye, but while I was having a clear out, I came across it and couldn’t wait to make it!
The Sade Blouse is part of the Breaking the Pattern book, and is available from the Named Patterns website.
I thought this would look great in a nice drapey rayon, so I opted for our Charlie Red Rayon, as it has a nice bold print and lovely movement.
The Sade blouse has two part sleeves, and a two part back, to allow slits to be formed and it then suggests you use ribbons to tie them up. I decided that it would really annoy me to have to keep tying them, so I opted for narrow elastic instead. I’m glad I did, as I can imagine the ties would get in everything!
The hardest part of this pattern was the neckband. I initially thought I would just use pre-made bias tape, but the instructions are very unclear when it comes to how to finish the neckline. The words are sparse, at best, and the pictures don’t give much away. After trying desperately to get the stitching to lie flat, I unpicked for the forth time and decided to make my own bias tape out of the rayon fabric.
I believe that the neck binding is supposed to be visible, rather than hidden on the inside of the garment. Therefore, what you need to do, is sew the binding to the outside of the neckline, RST, and then trim away the excess, before folding over the remaining binding to the inside and enclosing the raw edges. You then stitch in the ditch, making sure you have caught all of the edges on the inside. This creates a narrow but neat binding.
It was quite tricky to wrangle the top as it was being constructed as there are a lot of moving parts and you have to make sure that nothing gets twisted.
Interfacing the edges of the sleeves and back opening was really helpful – its definitely worth cutting some 1cm strips of interfacing and pressing them on to the edges, this also helps as a guide for turning over the edges!
Overall, I am happy with this make, but I think the instructions could have been a lot clearer. I think the slits in the sleeves create a nice draft but when you lift your arms at a certain angle, they create a hammock effect! Some would say, the perfect kitten hammock even!
Do bear in mind that this only has a 1cm seam allowance.
Wow, this post was quick off the mark, especially as the neckline was so tricky! The blouse looks fab. I have always preferred creating my own bias binding from the same fabric, rather than using pre-made. I think sometimes it is hard to get a match in terms of colour / weight of fabric, but it can make the project extra involved. Love the kitten hammock!