In preparation for Self-Stitched-September, The Sew Convert has turned her wardrobe inside out. There is a need to investigate what she needs to create from now till the end of August. Off course, she also had to decide which were the Made Me outfits she dared to adorn outside the refuge of her home. She figured that she has at least 2 tops and 3 dresses that are pass-able. The rest, she would rather hide at the back of her wardrobe. The Sew Convert came to a realization that she has been happily sewing dress after dress but what she really needed were more tops, shorts and if possible a jumpsuit or two (though dress-making can still continue concurrently:) Yes, for the records she loves making dresses and is not going to stop making dresses:)
Being a stay-at-home mum, weekdays usually means a top + shorts combo for The Sew Convert as she chauffeurs the prince and princess to school and back. The exceptions are her fortnightly trips downtown where dresses could be more appropriate. Saturdays are for shopping with the family, grocery buying and visiting the in-laws. Sometimes, the family also visits the zoo. So, she is happy to wear casual dresses (except for the zoo) or a top + jeans combo. On Sundays, the family goes to church. The Sew Convert would love wearing some dresses to church for a change.
To get some quick gratification from blouse making, The Sew Convert immediately turns to Burdastyle’s Tara, the first sewing pattern she used for a Made Me project half a year ago which resulted in this plaid blouse. The original Tara pattern has short ruffle sleeves which The Sew Convert will never ever wear so she created longer sleeves for her version.
The Sew Convert liked the Tara neckline. She enjoyed sewing and wearing it. Tara is perfect for the perpetual summer in Singapore. She is also very much aware that she has quite a few pieces of 1.5 metre fabrics sitting around. So she made a quick decision and set out to challenge herself. She shall attempt to create three (hopefully very) different tops from the Tara pattern this week.
Today, she managed to print the pattern and cut two fabrics from it. A third fabric is still drying and shall be cut soon. Even at this moment, she is still toying around with ideas on the adaptations for the third fabric. She managed to sew a little with the first fabric before playing chauffeur today. This is a sneak peek at the Bambi Tara. This Kokka fabric from Japan is so cute, it contains a zillion baby Bambis. Some details she added include front flaps with piping. She also intends to stitch on the matching white button.
She hopes to get all three adaptations done by the deadline so that she can start working on other blouses next week. Thereafter, it will be two weeks dedicated to shorts and pants which would bring us to July, time to re-evaluate and re-plan. Oh and in case anyone is wondering why The Sew Convert is not making any skirts. That’s because she hates wearing them:)
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I used white bias tape to create the tie-string sleeves. The fabric had rather cute fringes on its selvages so I cut pieces of them and added these to the back and front neckline area of the blouse as shown below.
I tried the blouse on after finishing the sleeves and realized I do not need to insert the elastic. So, I didn’t. However, I did tighten the fit around the waist area.
The Sew Convert 