As promised, here is the second part of this tutorial where I’ll show you how to sew the blouse we knocked-off the pattern for.
As you know, I want to make this blouse out of a skirt, so I’m super limited on fabric! But I have a solution.
I laid the pattern pieces on the skirt to see what I’m working with. I can only get the collar and one collar stand out of the skirt. So I cut the other collar stand and the under collar out of black cotton pocketing. I cut the armscye facings out of pocketing too.
Now that I have a plan I can dis-assemble the skirt. I’m cutting the waistband off first, and then cutting off the seams. Sometimes I will remove the stitches from the seams if I desperately need the little bit of fabric I could get out of the seam allowance.
I’ve already washed the skirt a few times, ironed it, and got the seams nice and flat before cutting.
Now I can really lay the pattern out.
For the front pieces, I’m lining my fabric grainline up to the pattern. This fabric goes off-grain easily. So I’m lining it up as close to perfect as I can get it.
The collar stand will have to have a seam at the back, so I’m adding seam allowance to my pieces before cutting them out.
I stitched the center back seam of the collar stand and pressed it open. Then I trimmed the seam allowance away where the other seams will be so it doesn’t end up so bulky.
Now for the interfacing. I’m using tricot so the collar doesn’t get too stiff.
If you run the interfacing through a seam, it’s going to be stronger. But if you trim the interfacing away right at the edge of a seam, the fold will (sometimes) be more crisp. I think this fabric performs better without interfacing in the seams, so I’m using tracing paper and a tracing wheel to mark out the collar and collar stand on the tricot interfacing, leaving off the seam allowance.
I also cut 7/8” strips for the center front placket.
There are different kinds of tracing wheels which can be confusing. I’m using the tracing wheel on the right to mark the transfer paper. But when I’m marking pattern paper I use the needle point tracing wheel on the left.
Before I fused the pieces, I used the pattern to re-shape the fabric.
Then I centered the interfacing and fused it to the fabric.
I also fused the 7/8″ strips of interfacing 1/2″ away from the front edges.
Then I folded the seam allowance over the interfacing, and folded again at the other edge of the interfacing, which is the front of the blouse.
I pinned that in place and stitched at the edge of the placket. Then press it flat again to set the stitches.
Now I want to mark out the darts, so I’m drawing lines with a Frixion marker from the point of the dart to the notches. Then pin, making sure both sides are lined up correctly.
To sew them, I’m starting at the side seam, back tacking, and then sewing to the point. I’m ending the dart right at the edge of the fold, but don’t back tack. Instead, leave long thread tails, and use a pin to tie them into a knot at the base of the dart. Then thread the tails through a needle, and run them back into the dart to hide them.
To press the dart, first I press it in half just up to the point (don’t press past the point, it’s really hard to un-press that part!). Then I fold it down and press over a ham to get a smooth curve.
Next I want to serge the shoulders and side seams of the blouse and the facings. Then serge the raw edge of the facings.
I pinned together the front and back blouse at the shoulders and side seams and tried it on. It looks good so I can sew those seams. And then press them open.
I also pinned the armscye facings at the shoulder and side seam and then stitched those too. Then press the seams open.
Now I’ll put together the collar. On the collar stand lining I marked the 1/2” seam allowance at the bottom, and I’m folding and pressing it up. Once it’s pressed neatly in place, I can trim it down to 1/4”.
I marked the 1/2” seam allowance at the under collar. Then pin it to the collar. It doesn’t fit exactly because I want the collar to fold over the undercollar (remember we trimmed the undercollar down for turn of the cloth).
I’m sewing the seam, and instead of pivoting at the point, I’m stopping a stitch shy of the point. Then pivot and sew one or two small stitches across the point. This will actually make it pointier because there will be less seam allowance at the point to blunt it!
Then pivot again and continue sewing, making sure to ease the collar fabric into the smaller undercollar.
Can you see there’s a bubble of fabric at the collar points? That’s exactly what we want.
Now I need to trim away the seam allowance at the front edges and the points down to just a few threads away from the stitch line. And snip at the curves of the collar. I pressed the seams toward the undercollar where I could and then turn it right-side-out.
The points are so narrow that I’m using a metal rod (from a broken skirt hanger) to try to push them out. I also very very very carefully use a pin to pull the points out.
Once I get them as pointy as they’ll go, I press the collar flat at the edges. See how the floral fabric hangs over the black undercollar just a bit? That’s why you trim away the undercollar.
It still doesn’t quite match up at the open edge, which is good. The undercollar is a bit shorter, which will let it fold smoothly under the collar when it folds.
Pin (or baste) the collar edges together so they’re even, and then pin it to the collar stand. Line up the collar edge stitch line to the notch.
Then sew the seam just shy of 1/2”.
Now back at the collar stand, I’m using tracing paper and a tracing wheel to mark the stitch line at the front collar stand curve.
Then I can pin it to the collar and collar stand, and sew at 1/2”, covering the previous collar/collar stand stitch line.
I like to trim away the seam allowance at the curve instead of snipping it. Then grade the seam allowance, which means to trim each one at a different length. The seam allowance that backs up to the self fabric should be the longest, then each one is shorter after that.
Give the collar stand a good press.
I pinned the collar stand to the bodice. I like to push the collar stand seam allowance out of the way for this part so I can sew right up to the edge of the placket. This is really hard to line up, and you might have to re-do it a few times until it’s lined up just right. The seam allowances should all fold back smoothly in line with the edge of the placket.
Snip the seam allowance of the bodice so it doesn’t constrain the collar stand.
Then use a ham to press the seam open so that the collar stand folds back exactly at the stitch line. Then press the seam up into the collar stand. Now grade the seams.
Then pin the inner collar stand in place over the seam from the outside of the garment. Don’t be afraid to use a ton of pins!
Now stitch along the edge of the collar stand starting at the upper center back. Work your way across the collar stand and around the front curve.
Be careful at the lower edge to catch the edge of the collar stand lining underneath. Then give it one more press on the ham.
With the collar done, pin the armscye facings in place and sew them at 1/2”. Then snip the curves, and serge the edge.
Then understitch the seam allowance onto the facing. Press the facings back with the self fabric hanging over just a little bit.
You can tack the facing to the bodice at the shoulder and side seams, but since my fabric has a nice weave, I’m going to hand sew it down all the way around the edge. I pinned the facing down, and I’m sewing from inside, folding the facing back and loosely stitching through just one or two yarns of the fabric.
To sew the hem I’m making a quick stitch at 1/4” from the bottom. This stabilizes it for the next steps.
Press the edge up, using the 1/4″ stitch line as a guide. Then fold it over again and press to enclose the raw edge.
Then sew it down right at the folded edge. One more good press and that’s done.
Now it’s my least favorite part: button holes. I eyeballed approximately where I wanted the buttons, then use a sewing gauge to mark the spacing more accurately with pins. Buttonholes go on the right side for women’s clothing, and the left side for men’s. It’s not something many people will notice if you do it wrong, but it will feel really weird to button a shirt up from the wrong side!
Mark out the centers and end points for the button holes.
Most home machines have a buttonhole function and special foot. Use a scrap of fabric to test the button hole on your sewing machine. When the settings look good, let your home machine do the work for you! Then trim the threads.
To open the button holes I use a small rotary cutter to carefully get them started, and a small scissor to get into the edges. I test the buttons on each button hole, and cut them larger if necessary.
Then I use the button holes to mark the button placement on the other side of the placket.
I’m using 4-hole buttons for the shirt, so I can sew those on using my home machine too. Just disengage the feed dogs – usually there’s a switch behind the flat bed attachment (see mine at the bottom of the machine?). The weird looking foot on my machine is a button foot.
Set a short zig-zag stitch (length doesn’t matter because the feed dogs are disengaged now). Then use the hand wheel to crank it and make sure the needle doesn’t hit the button. When it’s safe you can use the foot pedal and run a few stitches through the button. Then rotate the garment/button to stitch into the other holes, again testing by hand first to make sure you don’t hit the button.
I left long tails from the machine and pulled the threads to the back. Then I thread them through a needle and sew them into the back of the placket to hide them.
I have one more thing to do – the skull button at the top is a shank button so I’ll hand sew that in place.
And there you have it – a blouse made from a skirt using the pattern from another blouse, all of which were found at thrift stores. Talk about upcycling!
I don’t know why I hate doing button holes so much. I love hand-worked button holes, but something about machine button holes really stresses me out. Do you have any irrational fears related to sewing? Or any rational fears?
Also, what’s in your closet that you want to make a copy / knock-off of? Share in the comments!
