Blouses with smocking technique

Last year I had taken a class on creating a Chanel-style jacket with Sebastiana Di Francesco Marchionna of Marchionna Couture in Moers, Germany (highly recommended!). We stayed in casual contact, and that’s how I learned that she was now also offering classes on zoom. In one of those classes, we sewed a blouse with a smocking technique on the sleeves. The course included an “all-round carefree package”, i.e. pattern (adapted to our measurements) as well as all material (fabrics, thread, beads..) that was sent home shortly before the course. The course itself then went over 6 weeks.

The blouse is made of romanite jersey with chiffon sleeves and a bow. Armholes and neckline are finished with satin bias tape. The hem of the sleeves and the hem of the bow are hand-rolled.

The highlight is of course the smocked sleeves. The technique was completely new to me but easier than I thought, even with the attached beads.

I then also sewed a version of cotton fabric (from stoffe.de), I also like it very much. I have omitted the beads because I wanted to put the blouse in the washing machine. Unfortunately, I discolored it during one of the washes, so it now has a gray shimmer and the fabric no longer shines as beautifully in coral as at the beginning.

The hand-rolled hem is unfortunately also not very suitable for the washing machine. I think this is due to the very loosely woven fabric because I have also had blouses where this was not a problem at all for years.