Voile Datura Deer and Doe Blouse

Hello everyone, meet my new Datura blouse. This is my first Deer and Doe pattern and I absolutely love it! 

Unfortunately, there aren't many apparel fabric shops around me. There are quite a few quilting shops near me but they usually only carry a few apparel fabrics if any. So I was excited hear about this little lovely shop in Burlington, Vermont. It was definitely a pricey little shop but Vermont is all about shopping local and supporting small businesses and I like to help out. I really fell in love with the triangle cut out blouse and the fun button detail on the back. I picked out this lovely lightweight cotton voile to make it up in. I think it's kind of a coral orange color. I love it, it's so bright and summery. I also picked up some Robert Kaufman Chambray that has an interesting herringbone design for another True Bias Southport Dress. Truth is I've been making a lot of garments lately but I haven't found the motivation to share them, we'll see. 

This was my first time making a fully lined yoke and it was a little tricky. The instructions are very brief and they leave a lot of helpful information out in my opinion. So I used a helpful blog post I found when scouring the internet for other daturas.  It seems many others have used it as well. 

•  http://draperyfinefabrics.blogspot.co.uk/2014/08/deer-and-doe-datura-blouse-tutorial.html

I also found the instructions on how to sew the bias tape around the neck line to be seriously lacking. The bias tape finish around the triangles isn't quite as nice as I'd like it to be but I feel like I did the best that I could without any pictures or better advice than to keep it pulled tight. I feel like there should be more pictures to explain how to sew the tape to the triangles nicely. 

Fit details:

I made the largest size to fit my bust and graded down two sizes from the bust dart to the bottom hem because I'm all top and no bottom. This worked out really well for me. 

I found the dart to be too high and I think maybe an inch too long. I left it alone this time but I'm planning on altering it for my next one. 

Oh and I was really confused when finishing the inside of the yoke. The instructions tell you to fold up the edge at 5/8 and then top stitch but there is no way you can do that at the armhole/armpit area. It's just way to small. I had to trim this spot down and then force it to fold/roll up into a tiny space. It worked out in the end but I'm definitely not happy about it. So I think next time I'm going to use a 3/8 or maybe even a 1/4 inch seem allowance on this part. I think it will both lower the dart and give me more room to fold up the yoke lining. I'll just baste it first but I'd be interested to hear from anyone who had this issue. I feel like it's only a problem for the largest size and maybe the next one down. Well that's it for now. I have a black and abstract white polka dot rayon fabric to make the peter pan collar version so maybe I'll post that soon... 

Flannel Archer Button Up

I finally finished my Archer Button Up!
I stumbled across a Grainline Studio pattern at the cutest quilting/fabric shop. It was the Lark pattern. I didn't buy it but I did go home to check them out online. After looking at the Grainline studio blog and a bunch of google searching I decided to buy the Archer pattern and I'm so happy I did.

I wanted to make a flannel shirt and my local shop has some lovely Robert Kaufman mammoth flannel so I went with the blue beauty on the left.

I printed out my pattern put it together and then I made parchment paper pattern pieces in my size. Afterwards I regretted not just buying the printed pattern.

I followed Grainline's post on how to make this cute little change to the pockets.

Like a lot of other ladies I decided to cut out the pockets and the back yoke on the bias.

I worked really hard to make sure all of my pieces matched up. Again I used their blog post on matching plaid. The only difficulty I had was caused by the thickness of the fabric. However, I love this fabric and my Archer is so comfy and cozy I really adore it. 

This is the muslin I made to check my size and to practice making a button up shirt. This was actually my first button up shirt. I did make a few changes to both shirts. For the muslin I cut off 1.5 inches off the bottom edge and for my flannel shirt I shortened the pattern by one inch. For the muslin I over lapped the cuffs more than the pattern calls for because they were so large. When I made my flannel shirt I trimmed the cuffs 1/4 inch on the edges and then I added an extra fold to the sleeve. I did prewash my flannel so after I finished it I washed and dried it and it did not shrink. I did not wash the muslin and so it did shrink. The picture is before it shrunk. It's just more fitted now and the sleeves aren't as long. The flannel shirt is a little loose on me kind of like a boyfriend style shirt which I really like but for my next archer I think I'm going to go down a size.
I do really love this pattern. I have plans to make a sleeveless one and a popover and maybe one that is both! My only complaints are the cuffs and the sleeves where they meet are too big. They are too long for me as well. I'm going to shorten them another half to full inch next time. I'm also not crazy about the original pocket but that's it really. I can't wait to make more of them.