A Tale of Two Suttons

I have such a long blogging queue…. and such a large UFO pile. Well large for me anyway. I have usually been a one project at a time kind of sewer. I blame the work shirts. I just can’t seem to get motivated to finish them but that’s a tale for another day.

But back to the Sutton Blouses since that’s why we’re here. These are the Sutton Blouse by True Bias yet again. Along with not finishing my work shirts I have been doing some experimenting with the kind of results one might expect from experiments – that is very mixed. But I didn’t want to blog a succession of almost failures so I will get to them as I make better versions (or decide to scrap them). So because of this I also desperately needed a guaranteed good result which is what I got which is what I would have gotten had I chosen my fabric more carefully.

I used this lovely silk/cotton blend because I love the colours and wanted something more than rayon had to offer, which apparently was mainly lack of drape.

Sutton Blouse

Sorry for the strange expression but the cat was attempting to photobomb and distracted me. Obviously not nearly enough drape, which makes everything stick out awkwardly.

Even from the back those sleeves just stand straight up. And you still can’t appreciate the fabric so here’s a better shot of it.

So unfortunately basically a failure, although I must admit that I still really like the fabric so it won’t be wasted (although I am still not sure what I am going to do with it). I prewashed it in the machine (I know, but you may as well start as you intend to proceed) on delicate in cold water and line dried it with no apparent adverse effects and very minimal shrinkage.

I then went on to some more experiments, which as I said, I will come back to. And of course, after yet more experiments I again needed a guaranteed good result so yes, I made yet another Sutton. But this time I was sensible and used rayon.

Sutton Blouse by True Bias

See, isn’t that better. It will look even better with jeans, which is how I will usually wear it but it is still very hot here (I know I say that all the time) and I couldn’t face jeans in the daytime.

The eagle-eyed among you may have noticed that this has lost the high-low hem of the original design and therefore the side splits. I wanted quick and easy and so just rounded the sides of the front hem and shortened the back to the same length. This means that I can finish up to the sleeves as per the pattern instructions (which are excellent) and then hem front and back before joining the side seams. I like doing it this way when I have a rounded hem as it makes it easier to get an even finish at the hemline. (And no I didn’t think to photograph it and now the camera batteries are flat.)

I did make the same size (18 if I remember correctly but definitely the biggest size) as my original Sutton Blouse but I did also remove the extra length I added the first time.

So now I should get back to those blasted work shirts, although I am now thinking I could also wear this in a pinch…. and I have a couple more rayons in the stash.

What about you? Are you a one project at a time kind of sewer? Or do you have multiple things on the go?