Sunday 3 February 2013

Watch this Lace

Have you been following Marie's Watch this Lace series over at A Stitching Odyssey? If for some bizarre reason you haven't, then please hot foot it over there immediately. Thank you. Marie very generously gifted five metres of beautiful vintage lace each to eight sewing bloggers, challenging them to incorporate it into whatever took their fancy. The series is about half way through now and it's been amazing, with some truly beautiful and inspirational makes. And today's seamstress is none other than me!!! The construction details and finished pics are on Marie's blog, but I thought I'd go into a bit more detail here about what inspired me. I'll probably repeat some of the finished blouse shots too, just because.

Apart from trimming a hem, I've never used lace in my sewing before so I needed to think long and hard about how to use it. As I'm not a particular lover of frills and flounces, my version was always going to be a bit reserved. I initially wanted to used the lace around the neck, but visions of Lord Percy from Blackadder kept popping into my head. 




If you're a Tudor Lord then you can clearly pull this look off, especially if you have a spare set of doublet and hose to hand. Sadly, it wasn't a look that was going to work for me. I also wanted the finished garment to fit in with the rest of my wardrobe and be something I'd want to wear. So I decided to use the lace as a border/edging on a collar.



I was inspired by this picture of a Modcloth dress that I'd pinned to my yellow board on Pinterest, and decided that I could use the Alma blouse pattern as the collar has quite a similar shape. To get the look I made a fake placket, using the method from the Colette Sorbetto pattern. But instead of just attaching the placket at the top and bottom as per the Sorbetto, I top stitched down each lace trimmed placket edge.






The final amount of lace is just right in my book: not too frilly but having enough peeking out to draw the eye. Attaching the lace to the collar edge was a little more involved, but still pretty straight forward. I took some pictures as I went along and I think I can remember how I did it...(!) so if anybody's interested in a tutorial, just shout and I'll make myself remember.


I loved being involved with this challenge, and challenge me it did! So often, I take the easy way out of a sewing project, but this time I had to fiddle around with a few techniques and ideas before I achieved what I wanted. There are so many inspirational pictures and projects I've collected on Pinterest, but up until now they've just been pretty pictures to look. With this blouse under my belt, I'm now more than tempted to try and bring a few more of them to life. Happy Sunday. x







27 comments:

  1. Great mustard tights and yet another super sewing project.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hehe, you really make me giggle Jane! I had no idea when I asked you to take part that you would have panicked a little, but you've definitely delivered and I'm over the moon that this is a blouse that truly fits in with your style. There's nothing worse than making something you simply won't wear! Thanks so much for being a good sport ;o)

    ReplyDelete
  3. I love the look of your lace-trimmed fake placket -- excellent interpretation of the inspiration piece!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Oh! It's perfect. Pretty but not twee.

    ReplyDelete
  5. This is gorgeous! I love the faux placket, it's a great idea (and one I shall be remembering!). A tutorial on the lace-edged collar would be great. I've made three Peter Pan collar Almas, and the thoughts of how to add the lace is scarey. Thank you in advance. :)

    ReplyDelete
  6. Fantastico! Plus, do I spot some yellow suede shoes!!!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You certainly do, aren't they gorgeous?! x

      Delete
  7. Oh I love it! That is really just the perfect amount of lace as you said. I'd love to see a tutorial, personally!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Oh good, I'll put my thinking cap on and try to remember how on earth I made it! x

      Delete
  8. I love your blouse, just the right touch of lace, I bet you get a loy of wear from it as it will go with so many things :)

    ReplyDelete
  9. This is gorgeous, and I am in love with your mustard tights! I never thought of using the Sorbetto pleat technique as a faux-placket, that's genius. Great use of the lace.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Kathryn! Yes, I'll be using that Sorbetto fake placket trick again I'm sure! x

      Delete
  10. SUPER cute!! I love how well you matched your inspiration! Great project and outfit, as usual!

    ReplyDelete
  11. This top is so adorable! I saw it on Marie's blog yesterday and fell in love. You did an amazing job on this challenge.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Just the right amount of lace - very subtle! And also loving the Lord Percy look!

    ReplyDelete
  13. love it! totally non-percy! great idea on the placket - i'll file that one away for future use!

    ReplyDelete
  14. I really love your blouse! It is a really different way to use the lace and the buttons are adorable. It looks so similar to your inspiration too. It is always great when you can actually use pinterest pins isn't it!

    ReplyDelete
  15. Adorable! I love what you've done with the lace. It's a nice little pop of detail to your blouse.

    ReplyDelete
  16. Very lovely! Isn't it great when you can make some pinspiration come to life!

    ReplyDelete
  17. It's so pretty! I agree that simple and little is more when it comes to lace. I also just wanted to say that I've been stalking your blog for a while and am so inspired. I've just taken up sewing this year, and see that you started from scratch too in 2009. Seeing what you can produce gives me lots of incentive, I hope I can get my makes to look as professional! Also, I saw in another post that you live in Ealing, where I live! Anyhoo, I've started my own blog too, to chart my progress in sewing a drafting patterns (www.sleeksilhouette), I hope it's as successful as yours.

    xx

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Oh how wonderful! Thank you so much Katy, I'm thrilled that my sewing has inspired you. I've just been to check out your blog and love it! x

      Delete
  18. Such a cute shirt! Love what you did with the lace!

    ReplyDelete
  19. Super blouse! I'm now searching my Blackadder collection for that episode with Percy in!

    ReplyDelete

LinkWithin

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...