Almost Spring, Stripes and Lace (Butterick 3953)

3/26/2018

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.

9 Comments

Arlene

3/27/2018 10:37:56 am

You made a lovely blouse! And I appreciate the tip on washing the crochet lace trim first, I wonder if the same holds true for ric rac? Get a loop turner, it was a game changer for me!!!

Mrs Rat

3/31/2018 09:36:16 am

Thank you, Arlene! I would imagine that if the ricrac is 100 percent cotton then it would probably benefit from bring pre washed. I don't find that polyester or high polyester-content trims tend to change shape or size after being washed, but cotton crochet trims certainly do. As I discovered the first time I put some on a neckline and put the dress through the wash. Luckily, the lace stretched out again when I ironed it, but now I prepare it ahead of time, to be safe.

I used to have a loop-turner, but I think it was faulty, since it never hooked into the fabric very well. Maybe I just need to try a different one. Thank you for the advice!

Pam

3/29/2018 11:43:22 am

What a magnificent landscape. A couple of the photos remind me of the British moors. With your cape on, you look like a Bronte heroine.

Even with the magnificent landscape, it does look very cold. The flowers are like sunshine, and your blouse is just lovely. You have a real knack for pairing fabric with patterns.

BTW, I recently made the M6209 and love it. Only changes I made were to shorten the sleeves so that they hit midway between my shoulder and elbow (because, well, the SOUTH), and I made a belt.

Yes, we are having warmer temps, and, yes, I often sew out of season. I have learned not to make too many rules for my sewing. It is refreshing to make something springy or summery in the depth of winter's bleakness.

3/31/2018 09:45:59 am

I'm glad that I'm not the only one who sews out of season! I feel as though I should be more excited about using up my wool, but I will probably feel more excited about it again when the weather is really hot, like in August, and dreaming of cooler seasons will seem as exciting then as dreaming about warmth is right now. Oh well, at least we are prepared ahead of time, sewing this way, right?

I am glad you found a copy of one of my all-time favorite dress patterns and that you like it, too! Your changes sound both lovely and practical.

I do feel like Jane Eyre when I am bundled up in my cape and walking up in the still-bare hills. (I think I am small enough and plain enough I could easily pass for Jane or for Agnes Grey). The landscape quickly becomes quite wild and beautiful when you leave the suburbs here. Someday I will have to take some photos of the Great Salt Lake or the surrounding salt flats, because they are spectacular. When we moved to Utah it had just rained and the salt flats were covered in water. Driving through them was surreal---like traversing a mirror that went all the way to the horizon. The mountains looked like floating islands.

3/30/2018 09:45:18 am

I think this is a lovely blouse! Thank you for the tip of prewashing the trim, I wonder if this would hold true for ric rac as well? Also, get a loop turner (they are inexpensive) it was a game changer for me.

3/31/2018 09:52:55 am

Thank you for commenting not once, but twice, Arlene! It is so kind of you to make sure I got your nice comment and loop-turning advice (which I needed). I am so sorry I've been tardy approving and answering comments this week. I have the settings configured so that comments can't show up without my approval, since I hate to have the comments section of the blog become a wastebasket for shopping spam and that sort of thing.

But some weeks are tough and I may not get to the computer before my next post is scheduled to publish (if I have that many ready to share at once, which can feel rather rare these days with how difficult it has been lately to take photos of our new projects). So I am sorry if you thought I was ignoring you at all---I wasn't! I was just being slow because this week had me feeling pretty tired.

3/31/2018 10:49:22 am

Oh I hope you feel better and I for sure didn’t think you were ignoring me! I thought maybe I did something stupid like forget to hit the “submit” button because I do things like that. Hope you have a good spring and that it warms up for you soon! I always enjoy seeing your sewing projects.

Nicole link

4/3/2018 08:05:50 pm

I love your blouse! I am so ready for Spring dressing too, though the weather seems to have other ideas and it keeps on snowing :( I am planning on sewing a summer dress this week, to lift my spirits- and then I'll have something new to wear once the weather finally does turn warm.
On another note- I love your cape and skirt here. You definitely do look like you've come right out of Jane Eyre!

4/5/2018 12:17:38 pm

Thank you, Nicole! I hope your sewing gives you a boost this week. We are in spring weather here, but it seems to be clouds and rain rather than snow and clouds, so my sewing projects feel more hopeful than seasonally appropriate at this point. But within a few months, we will both be wearing warm weather clothes, so we can look forward (and sew in preparation) for that!

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Almost Spring, Stripes and Lace (Butterick 3953)

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