As I wrote before, I started the Alexander blouse from Burda, at least 6 months ago. I wanted to finish it as part of Colette’s Spring Palette Challenge, CSPC. I picked it up again 2 weekends ago and was not pleased with it, at all.
My seams were all wonky (wavy-like), the interfacing was too stiff, the neckline wasn’t straight, and the seams were all unfinished. I could have made it decent, but having enough fabric left over I decided to start fresh, and I’m so happy I did.
For the fabric, I used a hot pink silk that was a loose-ish weave that almost resembled raw silk, but it wasn’t. While it was shifty to work with, as most silks are, but it really wasn’t too slippery, which was nice.
I’m wearing my Alexander blouse with my first version of Jenny skirt that I made this past fall.
I modified the neckline to be a slight V-neck, removed the buttons from the back, lengthened the peplum 1.5″, interfaced the peplum to add some body, lengthened the back darts by an 1″ or so, and added a wider facing to go under the front button band so that the front seam wouldn’t allow peeping. If you know what I mean ladies… :)
I was really surprised I was able to finish this blouse in 3 days, start to finish. I think it has to be my quickest project yet, and you can be sure, more are on the way for summer.
Here I am with the belt I made using Casey’s tutorial on how to cover a belt. It worked like a charm. :) I made my belt using a matching black silk I bought at the same time I purchased my blouse fabric.
Taking advantage of my outing to Garfield Park Conservatory this past Saturday morning, I did a quick change of clothes in the bathroom from the Bouquet skirt outfit to my Alexander blouse outfit. (I’m sure everyone thought I was a hobo in the bathroom.) tehehe
This picture was taken in front of a tiled fountain in one of the side hallways of the conservatory. I just love the contrast and colors of the tile against my solid-colored skirt and top.
Here’s a shot of the back:
All in all, I’m pretty pleased with this pattern. The only modification I may do for next time is lengthen the sleeves by 1″ or so and I also may try this out again with the original neckline instead of the V-neck.
And to leave you with something silly…. This was shot right after Felix asked me what the flowers smelled like.
They really didn’t smell bad, but these particular flowers really had no floral fragrance to them. Everything else smelled divine though.
(I almost forgot…. I always try to post up other images in flickr if you ever care to see more. I have a link to my flickr account on the right sidebar. )
In: Sewing
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