Almost Spring, Stripes and Lace (Butterick 3953)

You can see that I persist in sewing hopeful spring/summer clothing despite the weather's just as persistent insistence that it is not warm enough to wear them.  I had just finished my first attempt of 1970s-era Butterick 3953 before Mr Rat and I decided to go visit the Red Butte Gardens in north-eastern Salt Lake City this past Saturday.  Since it has been too dark, too stormy, and too busy to take photos for most of the month, Mr Rat suggested I wear my new blouse and he could photograph it during our exploration of the garden.  It was a hopeful suggestion, but most of the time I was bundled up in my homemade grey wool cape and my long brown skirt and the only time my blouse saw the very weak sunshine was when I took off my cape long enough to capture the few photos above.

We enjoyed our trip to the gardens, and seeing the first bulbs blooming in the midst of the grey and brown expanses of grass and soil and bare branches.  I also enjoyed wearing my new blouse, and foresee it making many reappearances during Me-Made-May and afterwards, as the weather warms up.  I like the fit, the ruffles at the bottom of the sleeves, and the scooped neckline.  The hardest part of sewing it was turning the long drawstring inside out.  That took me quite a while of patient poking with a bamboo skewer.  And the next hardest part was sewing the bias binding casings on straight for the sleeve elastic and the drawstring waist.  The rest of the blouse was quite simple: it has no darts, just a little easing at the sides of the bust, and all the shaping comes from the casings.  I did the buttonholes by hand, used thrifted buttons (I have so very many of these white buttons!  You will probably see them on a lot of my summer sewing ahead this year), and added white cotton crochet lace trim by hand to the neckline, the bottom hem, and the ends of the sleeves.  I like the crochet trim a great deal: it is delicate and simple.  I try to buy a few spools of it whenever trims come on sale at Hobby Lobby and I happen to be near a store.  Then I pre-wash it, since it is prone to shrinking, and iron it before I sew it onto my chosen fabric.  This particular fabric is a thrifted piece of seersucker in a nice shade of grey-blue.

Altogether, I am pleased with my first attempt at this pattern.  I think I might change the slope of the shoulders just a little, so that the neckline is a little tighter, but otherwise I don't think it needs any adjustments.

Has spring sprung in your part of the world yet?  (Or autumn, for the lower hemisphere).  Do you ever sew out of season, just because you are looking forward to the next one a little more than the one you are in?  Winter feels like it has been going on for such a long time.