Another Ute

I've been pretty unproductive with my sewing over the last two weeks, due in part welcome visits from family--my father and mother-in-law, on consecutive weekends--and in part to insanely hot weather, which has left me sweating so profusely that I hesitate to touch anything in our apartment, let alone fabric.

Today promises a break in the weather, and a long, lonely evening of uninterupted sewing time, so hopefully I'll be getting my mojo back soon.  But in the meantime, I wanted to write up an older project, a paisley version of the BurdaStyle Ute blouse.

I got off to a rough start with my first Ute when I cut and sewed the wrong size, but now that I've got the sizing issue figured out, I'm loving the pattern, which is actually really versatile.

For this version, I used paisley cotton voile left over from my brunch dress.  Unlined, the blouse is semi-sheer, so I need to wear it over a camisole, but I actually like that look for summer quite a bit.

For this second Ute, I once again shortened the hem and the sleeves, and omitted the cuffs.  I also re-drafted the peter-pan collar, making the shape less extreme in the front.  I like the original collar, but I also the more subtle version I drafted, which I think works better with the busy fabric on this project.

I love the collar and placket construction on this blouse, which I think yield a nicely finished result.  But on this one, I made a bit of a goof: despite my careful measuring and marking, I managed to space my buttons and buttonholes unevenly.  If you look carefully, the top two buttons are closer together than the others!  By the time I realized my mistake, I had already cut the buttonholes, so I had no choice but to wear it the way it was.  Because of the location of the mistake (at the top of the placket) and the pattern of the fabric, I think it's hardly noticeable, and it's not stopped me from wearing the blouse a bunch over the last few weeks.

I've also incorporated this blouse into my Up North Mini-Wardrobe plan.  I love how it looks paired with my denim pencil skirt, as pictured here.  And I think it will also work well with the ivory Beignet-inspired skirt I'm currently working on--more about that project soon!

RTFM!

Shoot!  I missed the deadline to submit my denim pencil skirt for the PR Knock-Off Contest.  I'm not quite sure how I got confused, but apparently the contest ended yesterday and voting began today :-(

I'd be lying if I said I wasn't bummed out, since I hauled it to get the project done in time to enter.  At this point, I have yet to successfully enter a PR contest (since I hadn't been a member long enough when the Formalwear contest came around).

Oh well!  At least I got a nice skirt out of the deal.  And I'll definitely enjoy checking out other people's entries.

(P.S.  If you're not familiar with the term, RTFM stands for "Read The [Expletive] Manual!")

it's a good thing I don't design bridges...

...or skyscrapers. Or anything upon the construction of which lives depend. Because clearly my spacial sense is not the best.

Here's what I tried to do with my green dress project. It's a basic sheath dress with cap sleeves, and its the second pattern I drafted from my sloper. With right sides together, I sewed the lining to the dress at the neckline. Then I understitched it. So far so good. Then, with right sides together...

...I sewed all the way around the armhole. Yes I did. And if you've ever sewed a lined sleeveless dress before, or if you have a modicum of spacial sense (which I clearly don't), you realize that a dress sewn this way can't be turned. Believe me, I tried.

Here's the armhole seam that I tried to sew.



Not one to give up easily, I checked out the armhole on a similar ready-to-wear dress. It's clearly constructed in the way I had in mind: The lining is machine-sewed to the dress, and then understitched on the lower edge.


So what secret did the folks at BCBG know that I didn't? Things became clearer when I checked out the instructions from a pattern in my stash, Butterick 5147, which includes a fully-lined sleeveless dress. Here's how they pull it off.

First, you sew the dress and the lining, right sides together, at the neck and armhole edges. At this point, the center back and side seams are still open. This is critical, and I never would have though of it on my own.


Then, you turn the dress right-side out by pulling the two back pieces through the narrow openings between the neckline seam and the armhole seam. Again, I never would have thought of this.


Finally, you open out the lining and sew the side seams of both the lining and the dress in one go.


The Butterick pattern has you installing the zipper "the home-sewing way," but I don't think there's anything stopping you from sewing it Kathleen's way if you leave the edges of the neckline seam open at the center back until the zipper goes in. I admit, I won't be finding out for this project, since I'm planning on hand-sewing my armholes. But at least I'll know for next time.