Whew! I cut this blouse out months ago and finally managed to sew it up!
The pattern is vintage (circa 1971)
Simplicity 9446, which is a pattern for a maxi/mini dress. I really wanted to sew this as a dress for the summer, but the baby bump made that impossible. Since I had already done the bodice alterations, I decided to make a maternity top. The fabric I used is an embroidered stretch poplin from
Fashion Fabrics Club.
Sure looks awful on the hanger, doesn't it? The alterations I made were - FBA, converted the underbust dart to gathers, shortened the skirt to blouse length, full tummy/maternity alteration, moved the zipper from CB to side seam and used an invisible zip.
I did the maternity alteration by slashing a spreading the lower bodice/skirt pieces in front and at the side seams. I also lengthened the front 2 inches at CF, tapering out to the side seams.
Since the poplin was a little sheer, and I didn't want any show-through, I used white batiste for the facings and button loops. Those buttons are a bit problematic, though. Since they are ball shaped, the loops keep slipping off them. You can see in the top picture that they have all come unbuttoned, just while taking 3 pictures. Fortunately, the neckline is quite high, so even unbuttoned, modesty is preserved, but I'd like the option of keeping it buttoned, so I may trade those out.
Here is my side seam invisible zip. This was the first time I tried this in the side seam, and it went pretty smoothly. It really is invisible!
In the final analysis, I'm not sure that I am in love with this top. It makes me feel immense, which is definitely not what I am going for! It isn't bad in the pictures, so that may just be my perception of how tent-like it looks on the hanger. The puffy sleeves feel a bit linebacker-ish, and the hemline flares out more than I'd like (although I suspect that may be the result of baby belly, and not the pattern's fault!). I'll wear it around a bit and see how I feel about it...
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In knitting news, the gauge for the baby sweater was totally off with the Bernat Satin yarn, and on bigger needles it would just be lacy, which was not at all a look I wanted, so I decided to go looking for a new yarn. I really appreciated everyone's input!!! Knitting is new to me, so I feel a little lost when things don't go *exactly* according to my grand schemes. When I read
Liesl's comment recommending corduroy for the pants, I got this mental image of a baby professor, in cream corduroy pants and a tweed sweater. I can't get that adorable image out of my head! So, I found a couple of tweedy yarns in heavier weights, and some cream corduroy...
I've already started the gauge swatch with the I Love This Yarn, and it is knitting up nice and dense, but still soft. If it knits to gauge, it will be the one! The Wool-Ease is a more subtle tweed though. I'm just going to knit up swatches of both and see which one I prefer.
