Yellow Polka Dot Blouse

Pattern: Sencha
Fabric: Silk, $9/yd
Buttons: Vintage
Cost: $20

The photo above has some crazy light...but I kind of like it.

This garment is a synthesis of firsts. Components:

1. First Colette Pattern ever purchased... now almost two years ago. My first attempt at the Sencha blouse was an awful failure - between my inability to deal with the silky polyester and making a size way too small because I was used to crazy design ease. I have finally made a fitting version of this top!

2. First time using silk. Yellow Polka Dot Silk - my favorite purchase from shopping in NYC. Though tricky at times, completely worth it. Silk feels so much nicer than synthetics! Almost burned it a couple times with the iron as well... but crisis averted.

3. First major machine malfunction... right in the center of the front collar too. I nearly lost it. The needle kept breaking... I finally figured out it was hitting the presser foot. A week at the shop later...

Normal light:
Back view:
I'm finally back into sewing, after a long hiatus. I'm excited to start working through the Colette Sewing Book my brother gave me for Christmas - and use the $200 worth of fabric I splurged on at Fabric Place Basement on the same trip home to Massachusetts. Fabric Place has amazing stuff - and completely takes the excitement out of the Joann's that just opened in Baton Rouge. While I love to have an option other than Hancock... sigh...just a little boring.... ;-)

Tutorial: Hand Washing Silk

I’ve been so excited about my new silk, fantasizing about the perfect blouses and dresses I will make out of the three pieces. So excited, in fact, that I shocked myself when my mind turned to prepping the fabric for sewing and I realized I didn’t know how to clean it.

Of course, I turned to the trusty internets and found several recommendations. Here is the information I culled from those articles, in a pictorial step-by-step:

1. TEST IT! Use cold water ONLY.

2. THUMBS UP! Move on to the whole piece. Have a hanger ready for dripping dry!

DRAIN IT! RINSE IT!

TIPS: Only use a tiny bit of Woolite.

The silk dried wonderfully. I used a cool iron on it to get the wrinkles out. Now it's ready to become Sencha! We'll see if that happens soon. I'm simultaneously working on the Bombshell Dress for the Sew Retro online class (see button in side bar) and a version of my Palindrome Dress for BFF, S. Not to mention being repeatedly out of town for weddings! Minneapolis this Thursday...yikes!