>

Monday, June 17, 2013

Art and the Datura blouse

Last sunday we had an art opening at our friends house and studio, it is an amazing place, where a lot of artists live together and they have some very cool art there! I decided it would be the perfect event for me to wear something which I made with my dyed fabric.
It was a very sunny day, which was awesome, but makes it difficult to photograph the white fabric..

These are his paintings, Thanks Ted Parker for letting me use them as a background!

So on sunday morning I sewed my first Deer and Doe pattern ever, yay! I've been keeping an eye on them ever since they first came out. In my mind I  had to sew other patterns first before I was allowed to purchase more patterns..  So after finishing a couple of patterns from Victory Patterns I put in my order and was super excited when they arrived in the mail.



Some views of the back
Excuse the wrinkles, but here you can see the colours better

I had three different colours of the same stretch cotton. One was a small piece of aqua, which I used to cover some cording. Then I had copper, which I wanted to use for the upper part. Finally I had a lot of the speckled colours, which I used for the lower half.




And, this pattern also needs some buttons, luckily I had some very special ones, which I got from my good friend Eef. She let me pick them out of her awesome button stash, which she got from her parents-neighbour-mother! (if I'm correct)

Special buttons
The pattern was lovely to sew, I found the instructions to be very clear and the only problem that I had was that the fabric stretched a little bit when I tried to attach the lower part to the upper front part.
So I had to take them apart again and line them up, starting my sewing in the middle.

Making new friends 
Oh yeah and I didn't trim the seam allowances properly on the upper part and since the cotton has a tendency to roll up you can kinda see it on the outside.. Maybe I'll unpick some of the stitches and correct that..
On to more important things..
Details:
Pattern: Deer and Doe, Datura blouse
Fabric: 1 m of stretch cotton which I dyed myself, see this post.
Time to finish garment: About 2 hours, less if I hadn't stretched the front bit the first time sewing it.
Notions: 5 buttons and some cording
Boyfriend's verdict: 8/10, he wrote in his text: Although painting is not your profession I think Mona Lisa would be happy to wear it! He likes that it looks progressive/different from standard fabrics :)
Make again: definetely! Maybe I'll try the neckline with the cut-outs the next time.
















13 comments:

  1. It looks really nice! The speckles give this blouse something very unique! I would definitely trim the seam allowances, and then this blouse will look just perfect! I wish I was better at color/fabric-mixing... I'm definitely not there yet... :-(

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you so much!
      I really think I need to trim the seam allowances indeed, maybe this weekend if I'm not feeling lazy :)

      Delete
  2. Love this! The speckled fabric is super cute and I love the piping you made, too. I keep meaning to try out a Deer and Doe pattern -- they have such cute stuff. Nice work!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I really recommend the Deer and Doe patterns, I found them very easy to work with! Thanks for the compliment!

      Delete
  3. Super cute! I love this!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Love it! The speckled fabric is just supercute! I just uploaded my own Datura today. What a coincidence!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes, I saw your Datura, looks really cute! I really like your buttons aswell!

      Delete
  5. This is lovely! I love your fabric and all the details on this top make it really special.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Kathryn! It was really fun dyeing the fabric, I really recommend it!

      Delete
  6. Oh your fabric has turned out beautifully, and it works perfectly for that blouse pattern! Very summery indeed.
    I know what you mean about using up some of the patterns you have before purchasing new ones. I have just got my degree results and so my husband bought me the victory pattern Eden collection that I have been pestering for for AGES as a well done present. However I still feel there are a few patterns in my stash that have been neglected for too long that I should try out before I embark on my victory parade! we shall have to see. xxx

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hey Hannah! Thanks for the fabric compliment :) What an awesome gift from your husband, I think that the collection packages make great presents! I'm lookin forward to seeing what you make from it.. I've also got some patterns that I ordered from Vogue and Butterick which I really need to get started on, but it will be my first time sewing up one of them, so I guess I'll have to make a muslin first and I don't want too.. Hmm

      Delete
  7. I love it! Your dyed fabric is so cool -- and the blouse looks great!

    ReplyDelete