Winter Athena

It's been a while since I last posted a make, but I think this one has been worth the wait. This is the new Athena Blouse from Elise at Honig Design. I've previously made her garden party dress and really loved the pattern. I was lucky enough to be one of the testers for this pattern, and I've been waiting to post it since I finished making it.

Athena is a fitted blouse with double diagonal pleated darts. The diagonal darts are somewhat similar to Simplicity 2444, which is a great pattern I've made more than once. I made the version with bracelet-length sleeves, but there is also a short sleeved version. I chose the longer sleeved version so that I can wear it now that the weather is cooling down. I used a lightweight wool in grey and red check to have both some warmth but still a good soft drape.

I made a straight size 1 unlined and with no adjustments and it fits me well. The waist is close fitting, the bust slightly looser, and the peplum means the hips are loose. I'm slightly long waisted and the waist sits just above my natural waist. The neckline is high but not tight, but could be lowered pretty easily if you don't like high necklines.

I don't always pay a lot of attention to instructions (famous last words?) but given I was pattern testing this I made sure to read and follow everything exactly. Elise's instructions are clear and easy to follow. One of my favourite things is the inclusion of a progress bar showing how far you are through making it - there's a bar of squares at the top of each step which turn blue as you go along. For PDF patterns where the instructions are spread over more pages, it's a helpful piece of information. I'm sure that for less experienced sewists in particular it will be useful to be able to see how much is left to do.

Not only are the instructions clear, but the blouse itself is quite easy to make. There are eight pieces - bodice front, two bodice backs, peplum front, two peplum backs and two sleeves - but it isn't difficult to put together. The darts are sewn first and then the bodice pieces are sewn together. The same is done with the peplum, then the two are joined, the sleeves added and the zipper inserted last. Because I was using a woven wool I also covered all the seams in bias binding to prevent fraying.

I actually haven't worn this top yet, partly because I wanted to wait until Elise had released it, but also because it hasn't quite been cool enough yet. But I can see this top getting a lot of wear throughout winter. I think I'll probably also make a light shortsleeved version for summer, or even lengthen the peplum to a skirt and make it a dress. I definitely recommend others to make it if you think it looks interesting.

Winter Garden Party

The one good thing about this winter being so cold is I've finally gotten around to using this vintage woven wool that's been sitting in my stash for two and a half years. I found it at an antique shop on the Central Coast and had to buy it. The beautiful soft green with pink and orange roses has a really timeless feel to it. Obviously it was going to be a winter dress, but I had to find the right pattern first.

Then a few months back I did a big internet search of free sewing patterns and found the Garden Party Dress from Honig Design. The cut of the dress is really nice, but it's the neckline that stood out with its slashed front detail. It gets to be a high neckline which is good for winter without being too tight or dowdy. The pleated skirt has enough fullness while still sitting flat at the waist. The fabric had a finished selvedge, so I didn't need to hem the skirt or sleeves - yay laziness!

As is usual for me, I made a few adaptations for myself. Firstly, I lengthened the sleeves to bracelet length. Originally the sleeves were meant to finish just past the elbow, but sleeves that length tend to annoy me because they get caught in jumpers and the cuffs cut in when I move my arms. Also, the longer length makes it more of a proper winter dress. To work with the extra length I also narrowed the sleeves a bit so it would have the same softly fitted look as the rest of the dress.

The big thing that wasn't in the original pattern is the pintucking. It was something that I'd thought of for the fabric long before I found the garden party pattern, and I really didn't want to let go of that plan. And I had four metres of the fabric, so I knew if I screwed it up I would have enough left over to make a plain bodice. I didn't have a plan about how to add pintucks, though, and don't have any patterns with pintucking, so I basically made it up as I went along. I widened the bodice at the shoulder seams and neckline, and then added pintucks until the shell was the same size as the lining. I trimmed a bit off the side seams because there wasn't enough for a third pintuck, and I had to add a centre tuck which I initially wasn't happy about, but I think it ended up looking fine.

The bodice is lined using the same wool fabric. But because it frays like crazy I wanted to hide as many raw edges as possible. Working out how to set in sleeves while keeping the lining out of the way was a bit of a challenge; attaching the skirt while trying to do the same was even harder because of how much fabric there was to keep track of. Then I folded the seams back in to the bodice and hand stitched the lining down so that everything was enclosed and neat.

When I finished the dress and tried it on, I thought it had a very sixties folk vibe, like something that would have been worn at Newport Folk Festival when Dylan went electric, or maybe by Michelle Phillips from The Mamas and the Papas. I actually put on California Dreaming immediately after as it seemed completely fitting. So I now have the right outfit should I ever become a sixties folk singer.

Of course, once I'd finished the dress and washed and pressed it, in came the rain. And with more rain forecast over the next few days I thought I was going to have to wait a while to take pictures. Luckily the rain today only lasted a few hours and I was then able to go out and get my photos, although I did have to be careful not to slip over in the mud!

I really liked making this pattern and love the final result. Given the garden party dress has a few skirt, sleeve, and neckline variations, I'd say I'll probably make it again. Although I don't think I'll try and add pintucks again next time.