As a birthday present for one of my best friends, I offered to make her something. Ideally it would have been a complete surprise, but I wasn’t sure of sizes, what she’d like & all the rest, so in the end we agreed that I’d make a top – my now much loved Simplicity 2599. Sadly, we needed a new pattern because I’d cut it out in my size, which also meant that Cindy ended up buying her fabric as well. Not quite what I’d in mind, but I had a cunning plan that once I knew what size & had the pattern, I’d buy another piece of fabric & make her two!!
So today was sew for Cindy day – to the pattern she’d chosen – vertical flounces with capped sleeves. Now I approved of this choice because it meant that I got to use my wonderful Baby Lock again to roll the hems, as I had done in this fave version, & this version too. It was yet another hot date with my BabyLock, using it for all of the edge finishing, shoulder, back & side seams. Wow, the finish is so professional ….swoon….Didn’t feel confident enough to sew in the sleeve though with overlock – could forsee cutting into parts of the blouse that accidentally got in the way, so just used it for edge finishing here too.
The material was some cotton lawn that’s a gorgeous royal blue with pretty butterflies – a great choice- lovely to sew & it will really suit Cindy. Not having made the sleeved version before, I was also pleased with how it turned out- but once again wasn’t sure about the flouncey frill placement – it was supposed to have 5 frills, but because of how they lie folded across to the left arm, really the stitching lines should not be symmetrical to the centre front. I ended up going with 4 frills again, & the way the blouse is hanging in the pic, & the curves at the end of the frills, it looks like they are at different lengths, even though they aren’t in reality. I’ll have to get Cindy to model it to show it off….& to check it’s the right fit before I embark on “Operation Birthday Present: The Sequel”.
