BACKGROUND:
A couple of years ago I was at Joann's during one of their red dot sales. In case you are not familiar with these sales, Joann's has a discount table where marked down fabrics are piled. Usually there is nothing wrong with the fabric. They must have a system of some kind. I usually find a lot of bargains. When they have a red dot sale, they charge half of the marked down price.
At any rate, I found a dyed fabric that was also stitched all over into squares on point to the grain. The piece was big enough to make a top. Now I haven't sewn much since I did a layette in 1964. However, I decided I would design it myself so that it didn't have any button holes. Well it was a bit strange. I wore it a couple of times, then it went to the back of the closet. Then about a year ago I happened upon this gorgeous flower fabric on the red dot table during another sale. This time I bought a pattern. It required several buttons. I already decided I would just sew the front up and make a placket so as to eliminate most of the buttons. I really hate doing button holes. The only reason I was finally able to make these is because of a tutorial on how to finish a small quilt using cording by Terry Grant. She still has this wonderful tutorial on her blog. Thank you Terry.
I used McCalls pattern M5587 style B without the belt. To me the idea of a BIG shirt is to flow over the stomach, not emphasize it. For quilting the yoke, I put a thin fabric, then a piece of flannel, and then the flower fabric on top. I think I learned a lot about my machine while trying to follow the flowers. Hopefully, I've gained a little skill. One thing that I found really frustrating was using the black thread on the black background. I had to feel to see if I had totally stitched an area. For me, black thread on black fabric is really had to see. However, if you look at the difference between the quilted yoke and the unquilted fabric, there is a difference. The quilted flowers become even richer and most lustrous than the original gorgeous fabric.
Blouse Front
Blouse Back
A couple of years ago I was at Joann's during one of their red dot sales. In case you are not familiar with these sales, Joann's has a discount table where marked down fabrics are piled. Usually there is nothing wrong with the fabric. They must have a system of some kind. I usually find a lot of bargains. When they have a red dot sale, they charge half of the marked down price.
At any rate, I found a dyed fabric that was also stitched all over into squares on point to the grain. The piece was big enough to make a top. Now I haven't sewn much since I did a layette in 1964. However, I decided I would design it myself so that it didn't have any button holes. Well it was a bit strange. I wore it a couple of times, then it went to the back of the closet. Then about a year ago I happened upon this gorgeous flower fabric on the red dot table during another sale. This time I bought a pattern. It required several buttons. I already decided I would just sew the front up and make a placket so as to eliminate most of the buttons. I really hate doing button holes. The only reason I was finally able to make these is because of a tutorial on how to finish a small quilt using cording by Terry Grant. She still has this wonderful tutorial on her blog. Thank you Terry.
I used McCalls pattern M5587 style B without the belt. To me the idea of a BIG shirt is to flow over the stomach, not emphasize it. For quilting the yoke, I put a thin fabric, then a piece of flannel, and then the flower fabric on top. I think I learned a lot about my machine while trying to follow the flowers. Hopefully, I've gained a little skill. One thing that I found really frustrating was using the black thread on the black background. I had to feel to see if I had totally stitched an area. For me, black thread on black fabric is really had to see. However, if you look at the difference between the quilted yoke and the unquilted fabric, there is a difference. The quilted flowers become even richer and most lustrous than the original gorgeous fabric.
Blouse Front
Blouse Back
Close Up of Blouse Back showing thread detail.
