Girl of a different Era

Hey Everyone,

Today I am going to go into the process on how I made my 1940s ‘working women’s blouse using Simplicity pattern 8447. So without further adou lets get started. (warning, this was an extremely harrowing process involving much frustration and feelings of failure. I am happy to say that it is complete and while I might get a little ‘sweaty’ reliving the process I am excited to share it with you.)

The first step as always is cutting out your pattern pieces, pinning them on your fabric and then cutting thatout.

The next stage involved me putting away all the pieces for weeks because I didn’t feel inspired to work on it.

But I finally dug it out and went on to the next steps, marking the darts on inside of the bodice front.

And fusing the front interfacing onto the blouse

Then some of the curved neck edges had to be reinforced

Now I had to mark the darts and pleat into the back of the blouse

It was time to gather the shoulder seam and stitch the front sections to the back

I liked to try it on throughout the process, so as soon as it could be draped onto me…..

Now came the collar; I had to fuse on the interfacing, sew the two pieces together, and then turn it out and sew about the edges and attach it to the blouse.

The next part was pretty tricky, I was quite worked up and stumped when it came to this….(perhaps I am getting ahead of myself) First I had to fuse the back facing to this small back section piece.

Then attach it to the two ends of the front blouse sections. (it is even confusing to explain, but if you find yourself using this pattern please reach out to me for more details)

And then matching up notches and pin this to the back of my seam of my collar as a facing, also the front of the blouse turned in.

And then pressed down.

Of course after all that frantic worry had subsided into a reasonably successful collar and facing, I tried it on

It was time to sew up the side seams.

Now came the sleeve! I basted two gathering lines across both the top and the bottom of the sleeve.

And then stitched the sides together.

I had to ‘finish’ the sleeves so they wouldn’t fray

And I had to add the cuff (which of course first calls for the interfacing)

I had to gather the sleeve and sew on the cuff with right sides together.

Fold it over then sew it in,

And then turn it out, sew it on, and sew around the edges.

Then attach the sleeves (I love how easy it sounds LOL)

Time to try it on again

I had to stich 5/8 away from every edge that was showing then the turn the edge inside itself and stitch (sorry no picture, I was just trying not to panic)

Next It was time for button holes, first I had to mark the placement and then stitch them in.

Then I marked where they were on the other side and sewed on the buttons (I did the cuffs as well.)

I also had to sew in shoulder pads, while I could have made my own I was ready to be finished so I stole some from a sweater I have. (It was tricky to figure out exactly where to attach them since I didn’t have a seam on the center of my shoulder to line it up with. I marked it with a pin instead.

I pinned and basted down the middle of the pad.

Then I sorta slip stitched around the surged edge to keep it nice and secure (after that I removed my basting stitch. )

It is time for the grand try on!!!!

I am not sure why the back looks like that (styles those days, I guess) but I am planning on making a pair of pants to go with this and then hopefully doing a outfit spotlight. While I am glad I didn’t know how hard it was going to be I am satisfied that I finished it.

Let me know your thoughts, Have you ever attempted a similar project? Or, have you attempted a any type of difficult project recently?

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Fun Fact; I am in the Adirondack Mountains when this post goes up.