Maybe you remeber that last year I participated in the TV show and film sewalong. Well, I didn’t met the deadline. I had a wrong date in mind and when I realized my mistake I didn’t want to rush through the project. I finished a few weeks later, though.
I love the style from Emily Thorne from the TV show “Revenge” and decided to copy this top:
The original is the “addie silk blouse” by Kate Spade. I found a product picture showing that the blouse has a straight hem and a simple back without any darts. For my copy I started with the Bonn shirt from Itch to Stitch. First I eliminated the bust dart. I cut from the hem to the point of the bust dart and through the dart to that same point. While closing the dart the hem spread out making the top wider at the bottom. I removed this extra width later by straightening the side seams. Next I lengthened the center front and drafted a new neckline. I was unsure if the “Emily” blouse has a slight V-neck or not. In the end I decided it has not as the pleats are all straight and I was right. When wearing the blouse the top spreads open slightly at the top creating the illusion of a V. Last thing to do was creating the pleats. I decided to have 3 cm wide pleats and added them to the center front. That’s all. Unfortunately I cannot find the pattern anymore to show you how it looked in the end.
Construction
I had a silk crepe in my stash I used for this project. The collar is interfaced with silk organza and I had a silk thread in the same color, so this is a really 100% silk blouse. Sewing was rather straight forward except for the hem and the armoles. I binded the armhole edges with self fabric bias strips. I don’t know if there is any trick but I really had to fight with the slippery fabric and my finishing is far from perfect. I did not interface the senter front, so the V-neckline collapses a bit. I am thinking of adding a small button and loop at the top. Despite some insufficiencies I am realy proud of this project. It was the first time that I tried to copy a RTW garment and it wasn’t as difficult as I thought. The drafting took one afternoon only. This top is in heavy rotation during this year’s summer heat. It is easy to wear and I feel put together.
Gorgeous blouse and the style looks perfect.
Thank you Sharon. I hope I will find my pattern someday so that I can make a second one.
Beautiful silk blouse! That silk crepe! So beautiful for drape and to wear but to sew with…NO. I just finished a Liberty cotton sleeveless blouse yesterday and used silk crepe for the facings. Never again!! It’s horrid – slippery, and your stitches sink so deeply into the fabric unpicking is worse than it is in knit. I bow to your patience in making a whole blouse out of it!
Yes, it was a pain to work with, but the end result was worth it. Silk is so lovely to wear in the summer heat.
This is a lovely blouse and looks fantastic on you ! It must be great to wear in the summer in silk. Any thoughts on drafting a pattern to sell for the rest of us who are not as talented as you are in making up a pattern entirely from scratch?
I have three silk blouses that were in heavy rotation this summer. No, I don’t think I will go into pattern making. My skills are just enough for me, but there is no way to make a pattern in different sizes, sorry 🙂