Sew Over It Pussy Bow Blouse pattern review and make

Sew Over It Pussy Bow Blouse

Sew Over It Pussy Bow Blouse

I’ll say it from the off, the fitting and sewing of this, Sew Over It’s ‘Pussy Bow Blouse’, was the sewing therapy I very much needed following a crappy and fraught few weeks which left me run off my feet with daily meetings and unable to sleep at nights. By the time I came to making this I was starting to come apart at the seams; emotionally fraying at the edges, so to speak. It was in the interests of preserving what remained of my sanity that I embarked on this one. Sewing as therapy? Hell yes!

And it was glorious; several hours of uninterrupted focus and losing myself in the make. I’d put together a rough muslin to check for fit alterations as my measurements put me between sizes across the chest. Going up a size gave the necessary drapy fit across the shoulders and boobs, but needed to take out some excess from the centre front and side seams, which is pretty much a standard fitting alteration for me. I did contemplate doing a Full Bust Adjustment instead – for all of five seconds – but I simply couldn’t bring myself to spend the time doing it. I wanted, needed, to start sewing! (For reference though, I did look at this brilliant, if time consuming,  tutorial  by Paprika Patterns for a FBA when you’re working with a dartless garment, like this one). Maybe next time.

Also being a tad on the petite side, I needed to reduce the sleeve length by 1″ (Ana from debajo-un-boton.com advised me to slash the pattern at the elbow point – worked a treat) whilst ensuring I still retained enough length to allow for the designed pooling of fabric at the cuff without running the risk of obscuring it altogether! Lastly, given the fact that my slightly forward tilting shoulders and bottom heavy boobs combine to create a concave dip in the chest area, I had the usual need to pinch out excess there.

I can’t fault the pattern, instructions and illustrations; they’re very well thought out – clear, precise and straightforward. Which is no surprise when you think of the process Sew Over It patterns go through (they’re usually classes before being released). There’s also the Sewalong available so I’d totally recommend giving this pattern a go if it’s your first attempt at a blouse. You can’t really go wrong.

Pussy Bow

Or fasten it as a tie for when you really mean business!

Except of course you can! So I did, what with Karma being a biatch an’ all. I initially botched it where the neck tie attaches to the top of the centre front seam when constructing the muslin. I tried to convince myself that I could get away with being a bit untidy here as the seam is mostly hidden by the tie itself but, of course, as I’m a bit on the OCD side, I tried to make sure I was millimetre perfect on the finalised version.

the Tie encloses the neck seam for a neat finish on the inside

That said, there’s nothing else construction wise that’s fiddly. The bodice comes together fantastically quick. Things slow down with the construction of the neck tie as you need to slip stitch the inside in place. I love the finish this gives, acting like binding to  neatly enclose the neck seam.

The sleeves are gorgeous. I mean, really gorgeous. The drape feels elegant and the gathers and pooling of fabric at the cuff are sweet. I love the button rouleau loop; it makes for a really secure closure. I laughed during construction when turning the cuff out the right way and out it popped into place. I laughed people. Sewing therapy rocks.

So I love this blouse – I kind of want to make another one straight away. I also really like the fabric I made it up in; it’s another viscose, this time from my local shop. The print feels a bit retro and, whilst busy, still understated. But I need to crack on with other things. I seem to have amassed a bit of a fabric stash these past few weeks and the list of things I want to make is starting to feel out of control!

Tired…but happier

Until next time, praise be to the Sewing Gods!

Stay happy

Sarah 💋

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