Pattern Hack Tutorial:The Ehlen Blouse

Next month is "Indie Pattern Month" over at The Monthly Stitch. This will be my second year participating in the June month long Indie Celebration. This year I'm sponsoring TWO contests-

• One Pattern Two Ways

• Hack It 

Prizes are many, sales are huge, and we've all pitched in a pattern or two for a PDF bundle sale that is listed as " up to 40% off" but in actuality, much more than that. HUGE discounts.

 Get the details about Indie Pattern Month here:

https://themonthlystitch.wordpress.com/indie-pattern-month-2016/


 With the sponsorship I was inspired to share a tutorial on this Ehlen blouse variation. I made this outfit for the IPCA fashion show for the International Textile Expo, an industry buyers event. The point of the fashion show is to use vendor fabrics and provide buyers with ideas and inspiration. I think it turned out nice.

  As written, the pattern recommends a  medium weight fabric and is entirely lined and trimmed with lace or piping.

In my hack,  I used lining and chiffon layered together, each piece basted inside the seam allowance and treated together as one and trimmed with binding. It's very light weight, and using the methods I will show you, it's much quicker to assemble too. I enjoyed playing with the contrast of the shiny lining and the dullness of the chiffon. The bow can be wrapped and tied in the front or back depending on where you want the drama!

1.Cut one layout each of lining and chiffon. Additionally, cut about a yard of 2 1/4" wide bias from the lining fabric. Fold in half lengthwise, with wrong sides and raw edges together, press. The ties are two 6" strips the full width of the fabric (45" -60"), or as long as you want them.

2. Pin lining to the chiffon and baste the perimeter of each piece just inside the seam allowance.

3. Follow instruction booklet, sewing back to front at shoulder as pictured.










 4. Sew a stay stitch around the neckline, at 1/2". Trim neckline seam to 3/8", or 1/4" from your stitching.

 5. With bias binding to wrong side of neckline, raw edges together, sew bias to neck edge. * Because this is a long seam to sew, I did it in two steps. The first row of stitching is 1/2", over stay stitching, and I'm not trying to be too precise. I just want to get it attached. The second  row of stitching is measured from the bias FOLD LINE. I want my binding to fold over to an exact width of 3/8", so I am going to sew 3/4" from the bias fold line to get that exact width.

 6. Trim again and clip in a "v" configuration. This allows the neckline to move and bend without puckering. Press binding to the inside.

 7. Fold bias to front, matching fold to seam. Top stitch close to fold. When I say, close, I mean a SCANT distance, which is to say it's next to almost nothing. Turn your computerized machine to slow if you need to.

 8. Trim the binding to match the front raw edges then sew the center front per instruction booklet.

9. This is the sleeve at the peek-a-boo opening. Following the same procedure for both the front and back sleeve, finish this opening with binding .Sew wrong sides to wrong sides.

Trim, press, and topstitch. 

Here's a helpful tip for sewing accurate curves on those sleeve bands. I make a template cut from my pattern and then trim the seam allowances off. put on my edge and with air erasable pen, draw in my stitching line. It helps to have something to follow!

10. For the ties, along one long edge, sew a clean finish (folded at 5/8" and inside the allowance again at 1/4" and sew close to fold) along one edge, fold up creating a diagonal as shown. Sew together at 5/8". Turn right sides out and press.

11. Clean finish the opposite side. Run that top stitching from the square end, to the point end.

Hummmm...why is this one upside down?? Well, you can see the whole tie here.

12. Sew two rows of basting on the short square end, gather it up, and pin to blouse front at waist, about 3" wide when finished.

13. Sew to side seam.

14. Finish up the garment as needed per instruction booklet, omitting the lining as a finish. I hemmed my blouse with a clean finish too. It's such a tidy sewing method!

FINISHED!

Get your pattern here:
http://www.sewchicpatterns.com/ehlen.html

I hope this inspires you to join the sewing contests.

Happy Indie Pattern Month!

Tutorial: Sew Chic Southern Bell Curved Hem Pattern Hack

Meet my Southern Belle, LN8503. As designed, the full skirt made up of panels we call gores, and godet inserts at the hem creates this lovely angled hem that can handle border prints and laces with a straight edge. (photo at right). In the photo at left is the same dress, but with a curved hem, appropriate for all other fabrics.

You might remember this plaid dress as one I wore for lesson 8 in my Craftsy class.  I have worn this dress for a very long time, and it is still one of my favorites.


This yellow and black chiffon variation was made for the ITE show in 2015 with border fabric from Triple Textile. Instead of putting the border print at the hem, I placed the border print at the top of the skirt and did a curved hem at the bottom. This polyester chiffon may well still available for $3.50/yd (wholesale prices) on their website here:

http://www.tripletextile.net/SpanPrints1217/N-205-W.html


Let me show you hot to put a curved hem on your dress. This customization is so easy to do.



You will need:

• pattern paper
• tape
• curved ruler
• tape measure
• marker or pen

We will be 1) eliminating the godet and 2) straightening and lengthening the side seams of the skirt (there's just one panel, so this is easy), and 3) reshaping the bottom of the skirt panel to give it a curve.

Before you start, measure yourself from waist to hem and know how long you want your skirt to be. If you need to adjust the length of your skirt, do that now using the "lengthen or shorten" line on the pattern and following the "what to know before you sew" section of the instruction booklet. When planning your skirt length, consider the length of your petticoat if you'll be wearing one, and don't forget to include a 1-2" hem allowance, as appropriate for your fabric, and the 5/8" seam allowance at the top. I am using 29" as my measuring length. Subtracting 1 1/2" for the hem on my skirt and 5/8" seam at the top, my finished skirt will be 26 7/8" long, perfect for a 26" long, or shorter, petticoat.

1. Start by adding pattern paper from the hem up to the angled mid section. Tape it in place.















2. Using a ruler, extend the side seam for your size. Use a yard stick to make sure that angle is straight from the waist down to the new end point. Measuring from the cut line for your size, make a mark the length you've determined for your skirt.

3. Then go to the center and again, from the cutting line for your size,  measure to the desired length and mark the bottom of the skirt panel. 

 

4. Continue measuring and marking, inching your way toward the side seam you've marked previously, creating dashes all the way across.Keep your measuring tape or ruler straight down from the waist, no angling.

5. Now comes the fun part! Using your curved ruler draw a new hemline by connecting the dashes from side seam to center. 

 6. Here is what your piece should look like.

7. Fold your pattern in half lengthwise and copy your marks to make the right side the same as the left.

Cut from fabric, this panel shouldn't stretch too much, but to be sure your skirt looks right, always mark your hem from the floor while you are wearing it, then hem it. You want your hem to be parallel to the floor.

What do you think of the results?  I'd love to see how it turned out for you!

Purchase Southern Belle LN#8503.

Have a great sewing day! 

Laura