Endless Summer Dorothie Blouse

A year ago I made one of my very favourite me-made garments of all time. It was a sweet little blouse made using the Dorothie Blouse pattern by Slow Sunday Paris, in some mustard viscose twill. I loved it so much and wore it a lot. But sadly it started to literally come apart at the seams along the collar/lapel in a way that was not repairable. 

Later that year I made another Dorothie blouse with longer sleeves, but it didn't work out quite how I pictured it would. My mum has that one now, after virtually remaking the whole thing because she's much smaller than me! 

Pattern:

So, third time lucky? This time, I went back to those gathered, mid-length sleeves that drew me to this pattern in the first place. I omitted the weird split, bias-finished hem of the original pattern, and hemmed the whole bottom edge with a simple double turn. I also raised the armholes by 1.5cm, which was a faff but totally worth it. I would have raised them even more but that would have risked messing with the yoke seams.

Fabric:

Oh, this fabric. I cannot properly explain how much I love it. If you could reach inside my head and pull out the most perfect fabric design for me, it would likely be something just like this. I adore the kitsch Americana, the nod to vintage postcard designs and visions of exciting road trips.  

I bought it from Fabric Godmother last summer. It also came in a navy background version, but both have long sold out. The 1.5m length had been sitting in my stash for many months whilst I tried to figure out how best to use it. 

I included it in my #2020makenine plans (which you can see in this post), because I didn't want it to become one of *those* fabrics that live in my stash so long that eventually my tastes change and I end up not being all that into it. The little red plastic buttons are vintage ones that have been in my stash forever. I was careful this time not to position them too far away from the front edge, like I did with my original mustard Dorothie. 

Thoughts:

There are definitely things I could point to on this blouse to prove its imperfection. But that would be silly, because, overall, I've made a lovely blouse and I'm very excited to wear it. Although my style is far less vintage/retro inspired these days than it used to be, this somehow still feels very 'me'. I can't wait to wear it with my Romero trousers and some sandals and go somewhere that isn't my home! 

Dorothie Blouse ♥️

Here's a sweet little blouse that I made a couple of months ago. I've held off sharing it but now the weather has sufficiently heated up enough for me to actually wear it to be able to give it a full review. 

Pattern:

Do you remember the deep dive into I did into French sewing pattern companies? Well, whilst researching that post I fell hard for Slow Sunday Paris's Dorothie blouse pattern and I was NOT going to let the language barrier get in the way of me making one for myself. I love the proportions and delicate details of this pattern: the soft, open collar/lapel, the gentle gathering along the front and back yoke seams and sleeve heads, and THOSE. SLEEVES. I'm obsessed with the clever gathering into the band effect. In a way it's so simple, but I haven't seen it before in a garment pattern. There are three other sleeve styles included in the pattern (I think two are free additions that may require a separate download, I forget) but the banded version had to be the version I went for first. 

(image source: Slow Sunday Paris)

So how did I cope working with a French sewing pattern when I don't speak or read French? Having a PDF 'copy' rather than a paper format really helped here. I opened up the instructions file on my lap top and copy-and-pasted chunks of text into a translation app. Obvs a lot of the translations then required some interpretation, but alongside the step-by-step illustrations and previous blouse-making experience, it all worked out fine.

One aspect of the pattern that I wasn't a fan of, was the way that the blouse is hemmed. The front halves of the hem are simply double-turned and stitched, but the back is finished with self-made bias tape to accommodate a gentle curve. However, I feel that the back curve is soooo gentle, that double turning and stitching wouldn't have been at all tricky, and if you are using a slinky fabric like I did that doesn't respond well to being made into bias binding, then it's an unnecessary headache. There are also tiny slits at the bottom of the side seams which, having worn this blouse a little, I didn't feel were worth the faff to create them. 

Fabric:

I snapped up 1.5m of this mustard viscose twill from Fabric Godmother at the same time as buying the rust viscose twill that became this Elisabeth blouse, and using it marks the completion of the second of my #2019makenine goals. In real life, I think this fabric looks a bit more chartreuse than mustard, which looks amazing combined with navy, IMO. Having already worked with this slippery fabric, I knew to take my time when laying it out to cut, and to avoid a hot iron and pressing on the right side of the fabric! I failed to remember the pressing points a couple of times, and there are a few sections on this blouse that now have a bit of a permanent sheen, but I think only I would notice them. And let me tell you how nice this fabric feels to wear. It's slinky and smooth, but it's not too fine so I'm not freezing cold whilst wearing it. Although it does need a decent press after each wash to get the many wrinkles out and bring it back to a state of wearability. 

Thoughts:

Having worn this blouse and seen these photos of me wearing it, I'm compelled to share two flaws that I would make changes to avoid next time. Firstly, the length: although I'm short-waisted (I have a high natural waist/short torso), I decided not to shorten this pattern before cutting it out, and I'm relieved that I didn't because I feel it would be better a bit longer. I think the pattern is designed so that the blouse can be worn loose or tucked inside a skirt or trousers, however I feel it looks much better tucked in a bit, and I've found it comes untucked easily as it's not quite long enough.

Secondly, I think the button/buttonhole positioning is a bit too far in from the edge. I can't remember if the pattern specifies the size of buttons required, however, I found these dainty little vintage buttons in my stash which were a weirdly perfect colour match which were crying out to be used. I'm pleased with how I've positioned them in pairs for added interest, yet I should have accommodated their small scale by placing them a little closer to the edge. That's something that is difficult to spot when you're working close up on a garment project, so I'm not kicking myself for not spotting it until it was too late.

But honestly, those are minor points on a generally lovely garment that I think fits me well and feels wonderful to wear. I'm already planning another project using this pattern, this time trying out one of the other sleeve versions and an extra addition that I'm excited to share (if it all works out!). 

What about you? Have you ever tried a sewing project using a pattern or tutorial that was written in a language that you don't understand? How did you go about it and how did it turn out?