I'm making this blouse for the Stash Challenge, and although I've made it before (1986 pattern), it was a while ago!!
Well, if it could go wrong it did - again! Buttonhole problems on Saturday, all fixed now and sleeves and cuffs done, but it took the best part of the day.
Sunday, I went back to work on the blouse body. Nightmare! Nothing fitted together. So, in the spirit of 'I just don't care anymore', I finished it and kept my fingers firmly crossed.
It didn't work. The collar was awful. It stood away from the body and no chance of lying flat.
I left it, and went back to look this morning. One last chance, for the beast, and that is it.
I decided to unpick the whole collar area, and there was indeed a problem (or three). Firstly, the undercollar was far too big. I laid the pattern on top, and it was huge, whether this was enthusiastic pressing, I don't know. Re-cut around the pattern piece. Secondly, when I then laid the pattern pieces on the front, and the facing, it turns out that I had matched up to the wrong dots, on the facing. This resulted in a lot of extra fabric being forced to go where it didn't want to go.
Finally, this resulted in the facing being too short, so I added 4". I already knew the facing was too short because I hadn't enough fabric, but instead of correcting it at the time, I waited until I was doing the hem, which was a big mistake.
The moral of this tale is, to make sure your pattern pieces are cut and marked correctly, and that they fit together without undue force being needed.
I used to think I was an experienced sewer, it looks as if I need to go back to basics.
Jessie