Ottobre 01/2010-15

Thank you so much to everyone who commented and emailed me about my last post. I really appreciate all of the support, advice and words of comfort. In retrospect and taking all of what y'all said into consideration, I think I'm going to dedicate July to "Balance". I have tons of projects that I want to do. Some are for me, but many are not. I'm going to try to find the balance that works for me.

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I'm not usually a matchy-matchy mom. In fact, I think this is the first thing I've made for Myra that matches something of mine. It is also the last piece I had prepared to keep me busy sewing while we waited for our things to come from Texas. I really thought I was over prepared, but since we are still waiting, apparently not. Fail, North American Van Lines, fail. We have been told that the truck has left Texas though and is scheduled to arrive on Tuesday. Keep some fingers crossed for me, will you?

This pattern is from my much used 01/2010 issue of Ottobre. In fact, this blouse is the only reason I had this issue with me at all. When the issue first came out, I knew Myra would be getting this blouse, but at the time the smallest size was too big for her. And now she's wearing the second size up! Growing. Too. Fast.

The pattern is so cute! It is a yoked blouse with gathered shoulders and back, a rounded collar and button bands (although I used the snaps again). The sleeves are puffed and elasticated and the hemline is slightly curved and has a little strip of ribbon applied to the right side. Of course, the ruffles just ramp up the cuteness factor. Since I had just made my blouse, I changed up the order of construction from the directions. I found it easiest for me to apply the ruffles and bands to the front first, so that I could do that flat, then construct the shirt. I also did the collar before the sleeves. I always do, since I find that the flatter I can lay the collar, the easier it is to attach.

I just love the back. The gathers are just so pretty. I cut the yoke on the cross grain to take advantage of the stripes and enclosed all the yoke seam allowances. Even without my serger, this little shirt is pretty nice looking on the inside. The only exposed seams are the armscye and side seams. I double stitched those and pinked them.

Here is the front up close. You can see that the shoulder is gathered into the yoke. There was a lot of gathering on this blouse! I finished the ruffles on both shirts with a serger rolled hem. This was actually the last thing my serger did before I packed her up. You can also see that the collar is finished inside the shirt with a bias strip. This is absolutely my favorite way to construct a one piece collar! It is so much easier and cleaner IMO than the way the Big 3 does them with the weird clipping and hand stitching.

Even though both Myra and I really like this blouse, I'm betting that she doesn't wear it much. Myra is pretty much a dresses only kind of girl. Time will tell.