The paisley blouse

Isn't paisley a lovely word?  I have always liked the word and I have a real fondness for the pattern too.  This next sewing project was driven by the fabric first and then by the pattern.  I had fallen in love with some paisley fabric from Merchant and Mills and I was determined that I would make a blouse from it.  A bit of hunting and I found the perfect pattern from Butterick: B5538.  I liked this pattern as it has several different adaptations you can make from it.  The sleeves and collars are all interchangeable so you can mix and match to make the blouse you want.

It is also quite a straight forward pattern.  At first when I cut it out I thought it had a lot of pieces.  A lot of pieces to me meant it was probably going to be tricky, but they went together quite well.  I find I have to look at a pattern almost from a distance at first to work out what it is trying to do and then see how it makes it happen.

There are things I like very much about this blouse.  I like the interfaced front very much.  It makes it feel sturdy and also means that it is not scarily see-through.

The cuffs are also things of wonder.  I had not made a blouse with cuffs before and I worried that I might find them difficult.  They did take me a bit of fiddling around with, but nothing serious and they look really good.

I chose some vintage buttons to finish the blouse off.  I am very pleased with the buttons.  I am becoming completely convinced that a good button can be the make or fail of a project.  I have worn this blouse a few times now, for leisure and for work and people have commented on how nice it looks.

Mid-sewing this blouse I bought a new sewing machine (as you do).  I decided however to finish off this project on the old machine, partly as a courtesy to the old machine rather than just shelve it, and partly so I could have a play on the new machine and get used to it before committing to starting a new project.   I shall introduce you to the new machine in the next post.

The hunt for the Union Dress

I have mentioned previously that I have become quite a fan of Merchant and Mills patterns and fabric.  Whilst wandering around the internet I found the Union Dress but not on the Merchant and Mills website.  It became apparent that it was an old pattern that they no longer produced.  I really liked the design so tried to track down a copy.  In the end in mild desperation I emailed Merchant and Mills and asked if they maybe had an old one at the back of a drawer.  Sadly they did not have one but they knew someone who had one left, just one last paper pattern, so I quickly ordered it and waited for it to arrive.

I already knew which fabric I wanted to make this from.  I had seen the most wondering smouldering mustard coloured cotton fabric on the Merchant and Mills website and I knew it was destined to be made into this dress.

The dress was very straightforward to make up.  It did not take too long and I was really pleased with it.

It has many pockets, two at the sides and two 'pouch' pockets at the front.  I like the pouch pockets and if I make (who am I kidding, when I make) this pattern again I shall have a go at edge stitching the pockets.  This time I decided against and I am happy with this decision.

I chose these rather wonderful metal flower buttons for the dress.  They work with it very well I think.

This dress is the perfect comfy wandering about dress.  I have already worn it quite a lot and every time I wear it someone says what a lovely colour/style it is.  This makes me very happy.

A massive thank you to Michelle at Merchant and Mills for helping me track down the pattern.

A massive thank you to Cool Crafting for having the last paper pattern.

and there is a happy postscript to this story as it was going to be called the 'last Union Dress' but it turns out it is not.  Merchant and Mills have made the pattern available again by PDF only.  I feel I played a small part in bringing it back from retirement.