I finally made my Sew Over It Pussy Bow Blouse (also available from Indiesew)! It took me a while to start on this project for a couple of reasons. First, the fabric I used is a gorgeous, soft silk that I purchased in a remnant sale from Gala Fabrics. I had never sewn from scratch with silk before and was nervous about it. Second, and I don’t know why I did this, was that I wanted to do french seams and I had never tried them before. Trying french seams in silk on a new pattern probably wasn’t the best idea but I’m so excited about how it turned out!
Like my other Sew Over It makes (here, here and here), I found the pattern incredibly easy to cut out and the instructions easy to follow (with one exception, read more on that below the photos). The fit is also fantastic. I fall right in between size 10 and 12 in the Sew Over it sizing. I made a size 10 this time and the shoulder fit ended up perfect (unlike my first Ultimate Shift Dress). It sits well without any bust darts as well, which is especially nice because I am not sure how well darts would have worked in this fabric. Over all, I am thrilled with the fit and the feel of this blouse and am so happy to have a new go-to blouse pattern for future makes. Here are some more photos of it tucked and untucked.
The only issue I had in this make was probably my fault. The french seams weren’t nearly as hard as I had believed, with the exception of the centre from seam. In retrospect, it would probably have been better to reverse the order of operations and attach the collar piece first before doing the centre from seam. I definitely had to fudge things a bit when I was sewing the collar piece to the V and there is a bit of an unsightly section at the tip of the V that, luckily, is completely covered by the bow. Had I been more experiences with french seams I would likely have done this better. The other option and what I might do next time, is not do a french seam on the centre front. Here a photo of the shoulder and arm hole french seams from the inside. The different sizing of the two shows my progress (the shoulder seam was the first one I did).
Even with this one small issue, I really, really love how this blouse turned out. The silk is so soft and luxurious to wear and the pattern fits perfectly. I would recommend this pattern for any advanced beginner or intermediate maker. Just be careful with the centre front if you try french seams!
Thanks for stopping by!
~ Lindsay