Whew!! It has been a hectic week! Lots of sewing, vintage pattern buying, and fabric buying have happened. Our local fabric store had its once-a-year sale, so we had some stocking up to do. It's nice to see the fabric cabinet looking a little bit more plump! ;) And, the really good news is, I'm all ready to embark on my HSM project for next month. I have all of the necessary materials! I have one other dress I've got to finish first, but that will be my next project.
Last week, I decided that I desperately needed a casual but pretty blouse that could be worn untucked. Thankfully, we had just the pattern I needed; McCall 5138, a lovely blouse from 1943.
This has ended up being my absolute favorite blouse ever. It's very comfortable and looks cute tucked in, untucked, with a sash....just about any way you wear it!!
The design features a yoke that extends from the shoulders down the front of the bodice. The facings of the yoke and bodice front are cut-in-one, which I love! All in all, it's an absolutely lovely pattern, and I'll definitely be making more of them soon.
My mom had been working on a striped dress while I was making my blouse, and she made a striped self-fabric button for the keyhole opening. Just for a laugh, I laid the button on my fabric to see what it would look like. What?!! It matched! In fact, it did more than match....it looked amazing. Love at first sight. The crazy, stripy little button was absolutely perfect on my blouse. So I not only got to use super-cute buttons, but I got to indulge in one of my favorite pastimes! Covered-button-making!! ;)
The blouse features double tucks on each side of the front bodice, with a single tuck on each side of the back. It makes for a very pretty, comfortable and fitted style.
The fabric I used is from JoAnn; it's the American-made brand of fabric that they sell. I rather like it, and it's markedly less expensive than some of the "designer quilt" fabrics they sell. Bonus!! And the blouse only took 1 1/2 yards of fabric, so that is another bonus! ;)
The bodice is gathered onto the yoke at the shoulders.
Oh, and I *finally* got new sandals!! They might not be the absolute epitome of what a 1940s sandal looked like, but they're quite cute nonetheless, and the only remotely vintage-looking sandal I could find that actually fit (or was sold in my size...).
Just in case you needed to see my buttons. Again. :)
