Monday, February 2, 2015

Sewaholic Oakridge Blouse


Sewaholic recently released two blouse patterns and this is one of them.  The other is the Granville blouse and while I'm planning to sew one soon, the Oakridge is the one I was most excited about because of the bow.  I purchased the Art Gallery fabric awhile ago and I knew right away I wanted to use it for this pattern. 

I purchased this in PDF format. The pattern envelope says you'll need 3 1/4 yards of 45 inch fabric.  I made it out of 2.5 yards.

The blouse is relatively easy to sew but I did get hung up on a few things.  The biggest hurdles for me were the neckline, excess fabric pooling in the back and the sleeve plackets.

I cut a size 6 for my muslin.  I liked the fit in the chest and shoulders but from the chest down it was too large.  I did a swayback adjustment and another muslin but it was still too baggy.  I thought the muslin fabric might be a cause of the problem because of the stiffness but when I cut my actual fabric I realized it was just too big.  I ended up taking in probably an inch on each side from right under the darts to the hemline.  I'm comfortable with the fit now.  I think this is supposed to be a looser style. 
I'm pretty sure I didn't sew the collar right and if I did then I'm not a huge fan of the way it comes together.  Step 10 instructs you to sew the collar to the neckline starting 1 inch into the neckline.  After some blank staring, I finally decided to fold the collar in half lengthwise as instructed, but instead of starting the sew 1 inch into the neckline I started sewing right where the stitching left off that attaches the collar to the neckline.  After I turned the collar right side out it looked like this:
I then slipstitched the collar along the neckline. It looks neat on the inside but when you button the top button the ties overlap before you tie them.  It looks OK after you tie it but it's just a little awkward. If someone else has done this the right way please leave a comment and tell me what I did wrong! 
 
This was my first time sewing a sleeve placket and let's just say I need more practice.  It was another part in the instructions where a lot of staring happened.  I'm not sure how it's supposed to look but I can almost guarantee it isn't supposed to look like this:
 
 
Before you ask, I saw the little X thing done on a RTW button up shirt I own except it's not crooked and wrinkly on that one.  I'll keep practicing.  When I was sewing this shirt it occurred to me that the thing that used to take me FOREVER was sewing a sleeve in the round.  Now I breeze right through that.  Sleeve plackets are my new sleeves. 
 
I realize I've complained a lot about this shirt but I actually like it quite a bit.  Adding blouses to my wardrobe has been a goal since the spring.  I signed up for a Craftsy course to learn to draft my own blouses but was severely lacking in creativity and couldn't come up with a single idea.  Thankfully Sewaholic Patterns came to the rescue. 
 
I would like to try this one in a rayon challis to see how the drape affects the back.  I have seen more people talking about the Granville than the Oakridge so hopefully more Oakridge blouses start popping up.
 
 

 
 
 
 


12 comments:

  1. Glad you got there in the end, it looks fab! I love the fabric. I struggled with shirt plackets but I've now got the hang of them. I don't tend to use the instructions in the patterns but follow a way I picked up looking on line. I did a bit of a tutorial on my blog a while back when I was sewing a placket for a front opening of a shirt - I follow the same principles for a cuff placket.

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    1. I'll look up that post. I definitely need more help than just the pattern instructions.

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  2. Very pretty. No wonder you had to take it in below the waist: you don't have a pear shaped figure! (the pattern says it's designed for a pear....)

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  3. I love it!! Both of the new Sewaholic patterns are eventual must-haves for me. I love your fabric choice and think it makes for such a nice and feminine look. Blouses kind of intimidate me, so maybe I'll have to dip my toes in!

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  4. Pretty blouse! Not sure about the bow problem, but I recently did a shirt-sew-along on my blog using the Grainline Archer - and showed 2 different sleeve placket methods, Maybe some of those instructions will help you visualize plackets better - they are not hard! Like all sewing - just need to "see it" in your brain. Have fun with your next version!
    http://www.sewmaris.com/?s=grainline+archer+sew&submit=Search

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    1. You're right. I had a lot of trouble visualizing how it was supposed to come together. Thanks for the link!

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  5. Your blouse is lovely. I'm so glad to see a finished Oakridge blouse. It's my favorite of the two new Sewaholic patterns but doesn't seem as popular. I look forward to seeing your rayon challis Oakridge.

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    1. It's a great pattern! I've loved the rayon versions popping up.

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  6. This looks fabulous!
    SSB https://facebook.com/sassysewingbees

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  7. Very cute blouse, I love spotty fabric too.

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