Back in September 2022 the wonderful Katie of Sew Sew Sew asked me if I would do a guest blog post for her and I jumped at the chance. This is something I had been dreaming about for a long time and it may sound cheesy but, it felt like a dream come true when Katie asked me.
So onto choosing the perfect fabric. It took me a little while to whittle down which fabric I was going to choose, as all the fabrics that Sew Sew Sew stock are beautiful. I eventually decided that the Lucy Viscose Lurex Fabric in Duck Egg would be perfect for a blouse but which one! I had initially said that I would make a Honey Blouse by Fibre Mood but I then got completely distracted by the wonderful release from Tilly and the Buttons, yes you’ve guessed it the marvellous Marnie!
I couldn’t wait to get the stunning Lucy Viscose in the wash and cut it out ready for sewing. I cut a straight Size 3 and my measurements are B34.5 W30 H40 and I’m 5ft 1/2inch! I sized down for my waist and hips as I knew the blouse had a lot of ease and I wanted to make sure it fitted nicely at the shoulders.
There are quite a few pattern pieces to cut out and I was a bit silly and in my haste I only cut out a front panel and not a back panel. This may sound a little silly but the front and back panel share a pattern piece so you have to cut out one and then the other. Luckily I had enough fabric left and managed to cut out the back panel and then I was ready to commence the sewing!
As always the instructions for Tilly and the Buttons are fantastic and I enjoyed the process of sewing up the Marnie blouse. The only part that I found rather fiddly was the neck binding. I think neck bindings can be fiddly at the best of times and when doing these with a viscose fabric it does make the process a little bit more fiddly. I managed to get the binding looking pretty neat and catch the stitches on the wrong side. Something I did do to the neckline was to remove the little lurex threads on the inside of the neck binding so that they didn’t irritate my skin. It was really easy to remove the little lurex threads using a pair of tweezers and means that the neckline feels soft and comfortable.
When cutting out the Marnie blouse in this stunning fabric I decided to cut 4 of the shoulder ruffle pieces instead of the indicated 2. This meant instead of doing a narrow hem along the side of the ruffle before attaching it to the front panel sections, I simply sewed the two ruffle pieces right sides together and then turned them right sides out and then attached to the top as indicated. I feel this is much easier to sew and also means if the ruffle drapes or moves in a different direction the wrong side never shows.
As with most sewing projects this one did not come without its little hiccups and the trusty unpicker had to come for an outing! I caught the front ruffle in the side panel seam as I was sewing it, which meant I needed to unpick a little section and then re stitch. Just goes to show even with the most detailed pattern instructions mistakes can still be made!
One thing that did go really well was a little pre planning when it came to the hems! I decided to pre press my hems before sewing up the sleeves and this worked really well for when I did sew the sleeve hems and made it much speedier and neater too. I had to use some crazy blue elastic for the sleeves as the white 1cm elastic would not fit in the channel. It worked well using the 6mm elastic instead and luckily the blue does not show through, just shows what a beautiful quality viscose this really is.
I must let you know the pattern adjustments that I made to this blouse. I took 1.5 inches off the sleeve length and I also took 2 inches of the total length of the blouse. These are pretty standard adjustments for me being on the petite side.
Finally I must say what a delight it was to sew up this Marnie Blouse in the stunning Lucy Viscose. I have worn it several times already and had so many compliments. It is so lovely to wear and has such wonderful drape and movement which is perfect for this blouse.
Sending the most humungous thank you to the wonderful Katie for giving me the opportunity to be a guest blogger. It has been a little dream come true and a complete honour to sew up a blouse using such a stunning fabric from such a wonderful shop. I have been shopping at Sew Sew Sew for a couple of years and I always recommend Katie for her impeccable taste in fabrics and brilliant customer service.
Thank you again Katie and happy sewing one and all.
Love Katherine
You can find Katherine aka Sewverton Makery on YouTube here
and on Instagram here
** Katherine was given the fabric and a matching thread in exchange for this blog post