This was supposed to be a muslin - possibly a wearable one if it seemed a good fit, sure, but a muslin nevertheless. Plus, I was really rolling the dice, having decided to not size up from the pattern’s bust 32. I’m currently sitting at a 34” full bust and a 33” high bust, but the drawings included a lot of ease and in previous 1980’s sewing pattern attempts that had translated to several inches too much (granted, that was in pants…)

A propos of this, the pattern is Vogue 1292 circa 1980s, view D. It’s one of the patterns that set me off on vintage pattern collecting. I found

Anyway, a muslin it quickly stopped being, as it was fitting so well and the print seemed so cute that it became a full on finish the seams as nicely as possible sort of project.

The shoulder seams got felled (and it worked beautifully), the side seams I only clean finished. Still, nicer than the zig zag stitch originally intended for the seams if I kept it wearable.

Fine and dandy, but then I cut out the sleeves, added the plackets (which it’s been too long since I’ve done) and pleats, and attached… to discover that I hated the fit of the sleeve, which has been drafted as a symmetrical basically drop sleeve. Which makes some sense given how much I’d sized down.

So I drafted my own sleeve for the first time and it worked so beautifully!

To do so, I used a method (more or less) I’d found on the endlessly useful Fashion Incubator: using a cord (mine unweighted) to measure out the arm seam, then laying it out on the pattern paper in the desired shape. Here’s the post: https://fashion-incubator.com/sleeve_drafting_tutorial/

I did not as suggested add any ease, because this is a guest post on the site, and Kathryn elsewhere has discussed how sleeve ease is, in her words, bogus. And I’ve always found it annoying as heck visually to see those little gathers.

I was absolutely completely delighted with how the new sleeve draft came out and recut the whole thing. Then I went on vacation and came back too exhausted to sew for another week.

When I did come back to the project, I found that I really, really did like the wrong side of the fabric much more than the right side. Which had been floating around in my head before but I hadn’t wanted to commit to the change because the end felt so near. I already had a nice collar and placket and those clean finished seams! But with time away I was sure it was now more worth it to take more time and flip the project. Luckily, I had previously decided to do the collar in the wrong side because it is the piece closest to my face so needed the right colours more. And the shoulder seams were nicely finished on either side, so you couldn’t tell right from wrong. That just left the hem and side seams, which had all been done in a clean finish/rolled hem that ran into each other.

I unpicked the sides and left the seam finish in place, so it’s a bit ugly now. But I was able to use the press marks from the previous seam to sew the new one, so that wasn’t too bad. The hem is also quite ugly now, as I just turned it back and topstitched, with varied levels of success.

At this point I could redo the sleeve packets and all, which was nice as a bit of repeat practice actually reasonably close to the last time I did them. These I did as a contrasting bit of rayon from the previous dress (Style 3035) I posted, using the wrong side also.

Sleeve heads went in only OK this go round, and I’m not super happy with how my attempt at felling this went. One end was all lumpy and had to be unpicked, causing some damage to the fabric, and the other i avoided this problem but it’s rather uneven. I’d like to figure out a better method for the next iteration of this shirt, where there will be show through.

Buttonholes were a revelation thanks to the buttonholer I picked up from Nefelibata - oh my gosh is it faster and infinitely more consistent than anything I’ve done before. Joyous.

Buttons are all mismatched from stash, and the top one was 3D printed for my last summer by a work colleague. A treat to have it in a project now!

Overall, great base pattern for my future dartless blouses, which is what I was hoping it could be.

Pattern: Vogue 1292 circa 1980s
Size made: B32
My measurements: High bust 33”, full bust 34”
Fabric & notions: probably polyester? but definitely synthetic deadstock pansy print from Fabcycle. Plackets rayon scraps from previous project. Lightweight knit interfacing. Mismatched buttons from stash + one 3D printed with my initials!
Next time: this was supposed to be a muslin for another plan, and i still really want to make that plan happen. I may add a bit of space across the front, depending on wear comfort, and I want to take a deeper look through David Page Coffin’s Shirtmaking book currently sitting on my bedroom floor for tips on seam finishes as the next iteration will be made SHEER.