Black Forest Shirt

I quite liked Burda’s JJ shirt. It fit my boobs, which I’ve found is a hard fit to find. Much like my previous shirt, I had no problems, especially since I’d all ready figured out the pattern. That didn’t stop me from messing up on the sleeves.

I don’t own many items that are patterned, so this is a very welcome addition to my wardrobe. The fabric was another JoAnn clearance find. We finding a trend in how I buy fabric?

The second go on this pattern was definitely easier. I do think I could have taken it in a bit around my abdomen, but there’s no easy way for me to do that at the moment. The only mistake I made was cutting the slit in the sleeves. I snipped them so the opposite sides had the slits in them, which would have made the shirt look odd. I improvised and fixed the slits by adding a cut on the opposite side of the original slits. So now I have two slits on the sleeves as opposed to one.

I had to fix some of my buttons. They don’t line up with the button holes so well, I’m blaming a lack of sleep on that...

I'm Tickled Pink

I have had my hands on this pink fabric for quite some time. I found it on clearance (surprise, surprise) at JoAnns and my first thought was a top for it. As with most of the fabric I've picked up over time, it took a while to turn this fabric into a garment. Here it is as Burda's JJ pattern.

I left out the ruffles because I didn't have enough fabric for them. And I really don't care for them. I had to recut this pattern three times. I was not happy. I measured myself, determined what size I was and cut everything out. Not thinking I'd have a problem, I was not pleased to find out how much extra space I had left the first time I tried it on. So, I cut everything down a pattern size. After all, by my measurements told me I should have fit nicely into a size 38.

I basted the fabric together to check when I sewed the size 36 together. Trying it on, it was still too large. I was starting to feel like Goldilocks, except the pattern wasn't coming up too small! I then cut everything to a size 34, which originally I had thought I was going to need based on past experience with Burda patterns. That finally yielded this. The blouse is a bit loose over my abdomen, but I'm not complaining.

Once I got the fabric cut to the right size sewing this blouse wasn't too much of a problem. The instructions weren't all that helpful, especially with the sleeves. So, I ignored that and went along my way, hoping that I didn't mess them up too badly. They didn't come out too badly, if I do say so myself.

Prior to this top, I had only done button holes once. And that was on another piece that is currently unfinished and sitting in another state. Once I got the hang of how to do the holes, I was set. It was a little bit of trial and error. Thankfully nothing too disastrous happened.

With the buttons added and the top hemmed, this sucker is complete. It's the first blouse I've made that hasn't presented a problem with the fit. I'm very happy with the pattern, after I figured out how to go about it.