Months ago, I paired this gorgeous floral linen to the Dove Blouse pattern and wrote it down in my Colette sewing planner. Whenever I flipped through the planner, I'd see this project and feel that I had made the right pairing but for whatever reason, I wasn't ready to sew it yet. With the days getting longer and flowers seemingly everywhere, I feel like spring has truly arrived and summer is right on its heels. So, my focus has returned to all things pretty, lightweight and summer appropriate.
After returning from Japan a couple weeks ago, I had a really hard time with jet lag. I was falling asleep at all the wrong times and suffering from a slightly foggy brain. It took a few days before I even had the energy to start sewing. This project was a really great project to get me back into the sewing game. The pattern is the Dove Blouse by Megan Nielsen. I've made a few of her patterns before and have always found them to be easy and fun to use. This pattern is a v-neck blouse with bust darts, a curved hem and three sleeve options. The flared and bell sleeve options look really cool but I like to layer on sweaters so I selected the plainest of the sleeves, version 1.
The pattern was really easy to put together. The instructions were very clear and totally frustration free. There is a facing at the neckline and the hem which I really like. By the way, the shape of the curved hem is just perfect. If you're interested in this style, I would highly recommend the Dove Blouse pattern. The bell sleeve is very on trend right now and the base design will be in style for many years. It's a great pattern for a beginning sewist who wants to try sewing with facings; fast to sew and very satisfying.
I made a size M with no adjustments. My bust is 38", which matches exactly with the size chart. I think the fit is pretty good but when I sit down it does awkwardly shift up a little bit. You can kind of see in the photo below how the top is bunching up a little above my bust. I think there could be a few possible fit adjustments that might help me. I may need to make a size S and do a full bust adjustment, so the shoulders would be smaller but the bust the same. Also, I might need to lessen the angle of the slope of the shoulders. When I look at the photos, I can see the shoulder seam sitting a little higher than my body. I've found that with Colette patterns, changing the angle of the shoulder helps a lot with the fit. So this might be a similar instance.
The fabric is a linen (or possibly a cotton/linen blend) that was given to me by The Fabric Store in Los Angeles as part of our ongoing partnership. I got it back in the fall of last year but when I was in the store a few weeks ago, I spotted some of it still in stock. The fabric was really easy to work with and the colors are really as bright as they appear in the photos.
I'm really happy with how this blouse turned out. The fabric is so pretty and I love the vibrant colors. I wore this top for Easter and I felt totally prepared for the change of seasons. The simple yet interesting silhouette of the Dove Blouse nicely complements the vibrancy of the fabric.
