Wednesday, December 23, 2009

Poetry on a Stand

OK, not the most imaginative blog title. ;-)

It's done! Yay!! And I love it!

I'll share more details later when I write up a proper review but in the meantime, here are some photos of my finished CWC knock-off Poet Blouse, on Zillie. I'm planning to wear this on Christmas Day, probably with my green knit Marrakesh pants. Or jeans. I'll try to remember to get a pic of me in it, before I spill something on myself. ;-)





The fabric is cotton poplin with a bit of Lycra. It wrinkles easily, but not as easily as it would without the Lycra. I think this blouse needs a bit of the rumpled look to really embrace the "Poet" look, so I'm not going to fret about the wrinkles. The Lycra keeps it from going completely limp, which is a Good Thing. I interfaced the plackets, collar, stand and cuffs.

Funny thing when I was sewing on the buttons — I had all 3 buttons sewn on the front and one sleeve done. When I got to the second sleeve, I realized I had completely forgotten to topstitch that cuff. That's what happens when you work in snatched batches of time. So, there I was thinking I was already done and I had to put it to the machine one more time to finish that last cuff. At least I noticed before I left the house in it.



The trim is lacy elasticized rickrack I've had in the stash forever. I still have TONS of this so you'll be seeing it for years.



In a couture world, the inside edges of the plackets would be turned under and clean finished. In my world, they're serged. ;-)



I also trimmed the honkin' big dart with the serger so the show-through is not a honkin' big dart uptake.



These are the patterns I used — McCall's 5556 for most of it, and McCall's 5673 for the 3/4 length cuffed sleeves. For M5556, I changed the shape of the bottom of the placket, added gathers below the placket, back waist darts, and left off the faced hems. I also reshaped the collar points into curves. For the sleeve, I widened them at the bicep, which also meant widening the cuff to match. I also added a loop closure instead of the buttonhole called for in the pattern.



This will probably be my last blog post before Christmas, so to all who celebrate, Merry Christmas! To all my Jewish readers, a belated Happy Hannukah! And Happy Holidays to everyone else!

29 comments:

  1. Totally awesome. I hope to be as good at this stuff when I grow up. I just ordered the CWC catalog for ideas. Thanks for showing how you did it.

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  2. This looks so great! You did a really lovely job using the two patterns to come up with a custom pattern for yourself. I'm impressed. :)

    Have a very Merry Christmas and be sure to get a picture of yourself in that lovely new blouse!

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  3. Beautiful!! Very faithful to the feel of the original. It's really lovely. And where did you get elastisized ricrac?? How cool is that?

    Merry Christmas to you!

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  4. Wow! That is a beautiful shirt!

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  5. You did a fantastic job incorporating all those patterns to make this blouse. It is beautiful!

    Merry Christmas!

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  6. That is a terrific knock off of the CWC blouse! I have a feeling there will be more of these in your wardrobe, and definitely going to be a couple in mine! And soon! Happy holiday!

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  7. That is really beautiful - I am a sucker for any sort of poet's or peasant blouse. And ric-rac... :-) Merry Christmas!

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  8. Thanks for the Hannukah wishes..Christmas can be alienating for those who don't celebrate. You must be so pleased with the blouse. It is beautiful.

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  9. Your blouse is beautiful! I'm interested in how you gathered the front?

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  10. Very pretty and feminine! I hope it doesn't get too stained. :)

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  11. Wow, that turned out really well. And Merry Christmas to you too!

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  12. I love this one and I like all the details. Happy holidays to you too!

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  13. I love it! Don't ya just love design details like button loops on the cuff!

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  14. Thank you for the holiday wish. Your blouse looks wonderful.

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  15. That is a beautiful version of a poet's blouse!

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  16. Beautiful! and Merry Christmas to you and your family

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  17. Wow, that rickrack is just plain cool! Merry Christmas!

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  18. This is great Debbie! I know that serging is not the couture finish of choice, but honestly, with limited time it's certainly the best choice. And how many people are going to see the inside anyway? I love seeing something in rtw and being able to knock it off, don't you? It fits too.
    Hope you are having a great Christmas.

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  19. Really nice! I love the lacy rickrack.

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  20. Kewl blouse! Love how you combined the two to get one!!! Hope you had a very Merry Christmas!

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  21. Merry Christmas! I have an award for you at my blog. Hugs, Tracey

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  22. Turned out really pretty, and very close to the inspiration. As usual, your work is so neat & professional.

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  23. Beautiful. Did you see the similar top in the jan BWOF? Not exactly, but it does have the gathers at the yoke. I really, really like yours (better than theirs I mean!) so I may morph their pattern into yours. heh. did you follow that?

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  24. I love this blouse! I hope you won't mind that I'm copying your version. Thanks for the inspiration.

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