Sewing and tucks

Hi everyone! This has continued to be one of those weeks where I struggle with my craft projects. Don’t you just hate weeks like that? I went from not really having time to sew for over a month to trying to work on two projects this week and getting foiled along the way on both of them.

This time, though, I’m not really foiled, just looking for opinions! I’m going to sew Simplicity 4608, a smart little blouse pattern from the 1940s. View 3 and 4, pictured below, feature lovely tucks going down the front. Isn’t it marvelous? I’ll be sewing View 3 but with short sleeves.

I simply adore this pattern, and was so enchanted by it when I first saw it on Etsy that I accidentally ordered the bust size as the waist size, meaning I ended up with a copy of the pattern with a 34″ waist. With all the tucks and darks and everything I didn’t think I should chance trying to downsize it, so I hunted until I found it in my correct size. Which I finally did. Yay! (And that means I’ll probably do a giveaway of the 34″ waist size one, soon!)

On the pattern, you can clearly see the stitches going down the front of the tucks, almost like a long basting stitch. I’m assuming it was probably done to more clearly show the tucks on the drawn pattern envelope. The pattern simply says to crease along the dots and sew 5/8″ away, then turn the tucks to the side. They aren’t exactly pintucks as they aren’t small enough, and there’s only the two on either side. I’m sewing it in white, and assuming I should just go ahead and use white thread and a normal stitch length. What do you think? Will that look odd? I think the heavy lines on the drawing are throwing me off, so I removed them in the drawing, and I think this must give a better idea of what it will look like.

Speaking of dots… I’ve never worked with so many on a pattern piece. A dart at the side of the neckline (not really sure why it’s there since the shoulders are gathered under the yoke), a dart at the waist, two tucks, and button holes. Wow!

Anyway, I’m excited that I’m finally sitting down to sew up this blouse. I’m using a lightweight cotton-poly blend that’s semi-sheer, so I think it will look lovely with a camisole or slip underneath. I’ll be doing French seams and hopefully testing out mock French seams on the armholes after some helpful consultation with Liz of zilredloh.com, who is a technique whiz. We’ll see how this works out since there’s also a yoke, collar and gathers to contend with (for instance, I don’t see a French seam working on the front part of the yoke with the gathers, so I’ll have to think about what to do there). This will be my first time sewing with a semi-sheer fabric as the main fashion fabric. I love sheer and lightweight fabrics but am more than a bit intimidated to sew with them, so I’m putting aside my fears with this one. Wish me luck!