An Olive in Red Roses

Hello everyone ! I am back today with another great blogtour !

A few weeks ago, Amity from Lolita patterns contacted some members of the Curvy Sewing Collective to see if we would be interested in trying her brand new pattern: the Olive . I, of course, volunteered !

First, let's talk a little bit about Lolita patterns. Amity's designs are directed for a professional wardrobe. They are also super cute and girly. Now, they are pioneers in catering for us curvy ladies with patterns up to a 24 ! Their latest creation, the Olive is a beautiful blouse with two views. The bust piece is shaped with princess seams, a waistband and a pleated peplum is added below. There are also 3/4 sleeves.

Now, as you know, I am trying to focus on certain fabric colors for the summer. I promised Mister I would not buy anything extra but I really needed another fabric for this project. I directly thought of some pieces of a beautiful Liberty fabric I had in my stash. For the little story, I had made a maxi dress with it but I was quite disappointed with the end look (I never blogged about it). This blouse was the perfect time to finally use it !

I cut a size 16 at the shoulders and bust and graded up to a 18 at the waist. I kept the 18 for the peplum as it has quite some ease. I did not have to change anything to the fit. The princess seams fell just right and the ease in the peplum was enough to accomodate my wider lower stomach/hip line.

I chose View B because I did not have enough of my beautiful fabric for view A. And the busy print of the roses would not show the flouncy details well enough. I also added some piping along the seams of the waistband to mark the line a little bit more.

I really like this blouse. Here, I wear it with black trousers but it also works great with a pencil skirt. I wore the Olive tucked in a maxi skirt the other day and it is a great option too ! I love the hourglass shape it gives me !

My favorite details are the sleeve caps. They are very girly. I also really like the neckline facing. I made mine in a skin color lining fabric.

We took the pictures in our garden. It is now full with beautiful roses everywhere !

I will probably make the Olive again, but this time with short sleeves for the summer. I would also add a couple of centimeters to the bust pieces.

Now, if you want to see more creations, please check out the other blog tour participants ! And if you feel that this pattern is something for you, Amity offers a 15% discount during Sewing Indie Month !

Leila 13^th

Carolyn 14^th

Maria 15^th

Ping 16^th and 24^th

Hannah 19^th

Laurie 21^st

Katrina 22^nd

T 23^rd

^{Who is planning on making an Olive?}

^{Have you ever salvaged the fabric from a failed project?}

Making it work, Mabel edition !

Hi everyone !

The Curvy Colette blog tour is finished and Jenny wrote a wonderful round up post. I had a lot of fun in the process of sewing my Mabel and Moneta. It has been a great experience and it is only the start of something much bigger that will come to you very very soon !

Now ! Time for a little behind the scenes oopsy. My first attempt at the Mabel went slightly wrong. I do not have any photo to document the « before » stage, mainly because it was hurting my vanity. Now, as you saw on our posts, we all used a pretty thick knit to smoothe the curves and lumps. Well, I got a bad start, completely ignoring the idea. See, my approach was to go for a print that would take the eye where I would want the eye to go. I thought I found the perfect print : a beautiful pannel with amazing colours. Well no...

It went very wrong. The fabric was way too thin to wrap smoothly around my curves. It clung to them instead. Even if I had cut a size larger. You must already understand how sad I was... I loved that fabric but it was amost impossible to salvage anything or rip out the stitches. Due to the pannelled nature of the print, I only had barely enough for the skirt, and no leftover. I racked my brains and tried to remember if I had a pattern that would fit within the leftover parts. Nothing...

Then I started thinking that I really liked the waist peices, with the lining. Would there be any possible way to keep it ? Than I flipped it over and I had a eureka moment !

What if it became a top ! What if I did not have to rip any stitches ! Yes Yes Yes ! It could actually work ! What if I stitched my former hem on the sides, to create shoulder seems... And what if I cut armholes on my former side seems ???

It took me 15 minutes to flip this skirt into a top ! And you know what ? It worked magically... The pannel print work beautifully as a blouse. The fabric that was the source of the skirt clinginess became the reason why this top has a beautiful drape. The waist stayed a waist. The stripes along the form hem became a great shoulder line. I am so happy about this mishap turned success !

A shoe parting shot :)

What about you lovely ladies (and gents?), have you ever had a "make it work" moment? If so, it would be great if you could link it, I would love to see where your imagination led you!