The blouse is labelled as suitable for adventurous beginner but I have to say the pattern had me scratching my head a lot for something supposedly so simple! I felt the instructions were a bit too basic and assumed a little too much knowledge for a beginner, although the pattern does say it comes with full email support, so I suppose you could contact Simple Sew directly if you were really stuck! I chose to make the sleeved version but with short sleeves rather than three quarter length.
The material I chose was a lovely floaty material that I bought in the sale in John Lewis.
However this was my first experience of sewing this type of material and I found it really difficult to work with! I made several mistakes that had to unpicked and even though I was careful with the seam ripper it still puckered the material! Luckily the snags are not to noticeable. The keyhole neckline was very confusing and I had trouble applying the bias binding. I also think that the inside of neckline looks very messy and unfinished.
That said it looks nice on and I got complemented the first time I wore it. My hemming is very wonky too on both the sleeves and the bottom hemline. I think if I was going to make it again, I'd have to use something not quite so floaty as I found this material was a nightmare to sew. Think I will be sticking with cotton for the moment!
I found the following advice on Lazy Daisy Jones' blog about making a couple of changes to the pattern which I think would finish the blouse more professionally.
All in all, I do like the pussy bow style though, and have just seen this new pattern on Sew over it for the Pussy Bow Blouse. Wondering if this is a better pattern. Time to try another?
Have you made the Lottie Blouse or the Pussy Bow Blouse? I'd love to hear how they compare!
