Earning Your Stripes

I mentioned last time that I had some purple striped fabric in my stash that would have been perfect for March's Sophistique Noir theme of purple.  Lack of time and motivation got in my way.  In between carting two sick cats repeatedly to the vet over the weekend, the motivation resurfaced.

The pattern here is Butterick 4609, which you may remember that I made previously in orange and black.  I usually cut a pattern in a size 10, but for some reason when I made this, I cut a 10 in the waist and a 12 in the bust and hips.  I do like my dress shirts a bit loose, so perhaps that's why?

These pictures make it abundantly clear that Azzurra and I are not the same shape.  She has a flat butt, whereas mine is quite round; she has a bit of a of a tummy, and I don't really.  So please excuse the bulging and tugging in the pictures; the blouse actually fits me quite well.

The fabric here is Trick or Treat from the Camelot Collection.  The pattern calls for 2 1/4 yds in a size 10/12, but fabric.com only sells in half-yard increments.  I had twenty inches of fabric left, so you could probably get away with just two.  I'm not sure what I'll do with it; make I can buy some coordinating fabric and make a skirt.

I had only half-remembered this fabric (I washed it and immediately stuck it in the stash pile), so I didn't reacall that there was was so much purply-pink in it.  I was a bit disappointed in that, but obviously not enough to stop me from making the blouse.

I didn't realize until I got to the cuffs that I was out of interfacing.  I dug through every nook and cranny in the sewing room and couldn't find any scraps big enough to use.  I finally resorted to using embroidery interfacing.  It is really quite stiff, but for French cuffs, I figured it wouldn't be such a big deal.  I actually liked how it turned out, so it wasn't such a horrible thing.

The cufflinks here were a gift from my husband for our anniversary several years ago.  They are garnet and were purchased from Pushin Daisies.  I don't care if they don't match!  They're garnet coffins!

Difficulty-wise, I remembered the pattern being pretty easy, and except for the cuffs, it is.  Not that they're hard, but there's a bunch of fiddly bits.  It just requires lots of pins and patience.