Sewaholic Alma

Way back in June, I agreed to take part in Indie Pattern month organised by my fellow Wellington blogging pals Mel and Kat. The plan was to make an Alma blouse. I actually finished the blouse about mid July, but I've only just taken the photos. Yep, it has actually taken me nearly three months to photograph it!

I love the shape of this blouse, like the Pendrell it is designed to be worn outside or tucked in. I'm very much a non-tucked in girl and I'll be the first to find a blouse pattern which fits with that.

This was my very first Sewaholic make and I was really unsure of the fitting and sizing, and I ended up actually cutting the 16, based on my bust measurement. Me, being me, why waste time making a muslin. Time to test things? Let alone the spare fabric? Yeah, nah! So yes, I used my beautiful embroidered cotton for the first try! Check out this!

I stitched it up, darts and all, used my new invisible zipper foot and stitched in a perfect invisible zip, tried it on and...

Yep, enormous! I didn't need a zipper at all, it just went on over my head! I decided the darts were actually perfect, so unpicked the side seams and my zip and sewed it back up at the smaller size.

And I managed to sew the zip in again - beautifully.

Hurrah it now fits!

Have you noticed the sleeves...? No I thought not, have another look.

Like my puff sleeves?

None of the Alma sleeve shapes really took my fancy. I certainly didn't want cap sleeves, and the slightly longer ones didn't really float my boat, not with this fabric, so I drafted my own!

I've never done this before, but what is the Interweb for? I took the longer sleeve and completely redrafted it. For those interested, I'll put this in a new post. Anyway, I now have lovely puff sleeves which fit me perfectly.

I'm really pleased with how this has turned out. The blouse has certainly had a lot of wear already. Methinks I'd best make another ASAP!

So the details...

Fabric:  White embroidered cotton from Global Fabrics, September 2012, I can't remember the cost, but I bought three lots of fabric coming to $100 all together.

 Notions:   Thread, interfacing for the neck facing and an invisible zipper.

Pattern:  Sewaholic Alma
First worn:  Now I can't rightly remember, back in late June/early July at some point.
Worn with (in this pic):  An RTW skirt from Next (UK), and a very battered and sad pair of black pumps which I've worn and worn from M&S (UK)
Changes made:  Yep, completely redrafted the sleeves to give a cuffed puff sleeve.
Another one?  I reckon I probably will. This one gets lots of wear. It's comfortable and the fit is great for me.