Pussy Bow Saraste Shirt

Late last year, when I was thinking about my sewing plans for this year, one of the items I wanted to sew was a pussy-bow blouse. I had scored the Sew Over It Pussy Bow Blouse at a pattern swap and really did think that it would be the way to go. However, after making up a muslin, I didn't like the neck opening and the thickness of the bow. I wanted something more substantial, more wearable and versatile.

I had made the Saraste shirt dress from Breaking the Pattern by Named clothing last year and knew that the fit was pretty good. I decided to use this as my base pattern and set to tracing out the additional pieces in my size (3).  I made the basic shirt and then cut a long tie to make the bow. This slows me to wear it with or without the bow as the mood takes me and give a more versatile piece of clothing.

My hubby had bought me this beautiful bamboo silk from Raystitch for Christmas and I knew that this was the right fabric to use. I had originally seen this fabric when on a course in London near the Raystitch shop and I called in between my course finishing and my train home. This fabric has a beautiful hand, it's drapey but presses well. it doesn't really fray but creases a. lot. I used very lightweight interfacing for the collar, button stand and cuffs.

I followed the pattern instructions for the shirt and it came out really well. I did manage to stretch out the shoulders a little bit when sewing them, which is unfortunate, but I can live with it. (truth be told I can't be bothered to take it apart and redo it). The sleeve has quite an odd construction. Whereas a normal shirt has an underarm seam and then a sleeve placket cut into the sleeve; this design has the seam at the back of the sleeve and a vent is formed by turning under the open edges at the bottom of the sleeve before adding the cuffs. In my opinion, this is not the best way to construct a sleeve and if doing it again, I'd adapt the sleeve to be more like a normal shirt pattern.

I had made most of this shirt way before lockdown, but then it got busy at work and I didn't have time to complete it. I needed to buy matching buttons but the week before lockdown I was on a residential all weekend with children from my class so I didn't get the chance to buy any. However a few weeks ago I had bought some self-cover buttons for a wedding dress I'm making, but the fabric was just not behaving and I couldn't use them for the dress. The bamboo silk, however, was perfect for self-covered buttons and I spent an evening making them up. Then the project sat and waited for a few other things to be almost completed before I made the buttonholes. I usually use my Bernina for all my sewing, but my back up machine is a much newer Janome with a one-step buttonhole function. I spent the second Saturday of lockdown finishing off a few projects and doing a mammoth buttonhole making session. I'm always a bit nervous when making buttonholes as they are a nightmare to remove if they go wrong. Everything went well and all the buttonholes on the blouse turned out well - phew!

This blouse has been hung up waiting to be photographed for 3 weeks, I finally got around to doing it today. While I love, love, love the bright blue skies and sunshine we've been having. it does cast strong shadows on our back yard. So today's bright, but overcast weather was much better for taking photos. I dragged my hubby out to act as photographer - as usual, and here we go - blogged item of clothing!!!!

I doubt I'll be wearing this much in the next few weeks, it might get some wear if lockdown ends before the weather gets too warm, but I think once we get to the autumn, this combo of the pussy-bow blouse and my wool wide-legged trousers will get plenty of wear, especially at work. I'm glad I went with this combination as I have so many different ways to wear it.