Sewing a 1940s button-back blouse

 Well, it's here - the first of my autumn sewing projects! It's the blouse from this pattern:

For this project, I wanted to strike a balance between sensible meticulosity and perfectionism. Taken broadly, being meticulous is a good thing in sewing, but I find that perfectionism gets in the way of enjoyment. In fact, I once thought of giving up sewing because I was sucking all the enjoyment out of it by being far too perfectionist! Then, though, I became far too relaxed, swinging the opposite direction and creating slapdash projects that I never wanted to wear. I was determined to go down a middle path this time, and I think I succeeded.

Years ago, I was given some lovely black cotton fabric, patterned with little pink flowers, for a birthday present - what better use for it than a vintage blouse? I decided to take the plunge and cut into my beautiful fabric...

As a novice speaking to other novices, I would say: take your time with sewing preparation, however boring. This time, I cut out the pattern pieces meticulously, pinned them onto the fabric scrupulously, cut round them carefully, and marked on the indications for the tucks, darts &c. exactly in place - and goodness, was it worth it?! It made the entire process and the final result much neater and far more enjoyable.

As you can see, I only had just enough fabric for the project, but happily there were only three pattern pieces. As soon as I'd finished cutting, I was afraid that the blouse might just be a little sack-like, but I removed the pattern pieces from the cut-out fabric and proceeded anyway.

The first step was to sew the tucks into the front of the blouse. I pinned them carefully and tacked them in place - it didn't say to do that, but I did it anyway as I wanted to take my time with this technique. I then sewed the tacks in place and pressed them. I feel that no-one emphasizes the importance of pressing enough but it makes such a difference; once I'd read this article and put what Katrina suggests into practice, I was stunned by the difference it made to my sewing. It made a huge difference to these tucks, especially once I had worked out which way to press them...

This was before pressing, and the fabric piece was HUGE! I was worried it wasn't going to fit, but luckily the rest of the tucks and darts sculpted it into shape.

Cutting out the neck binding, which had to be done on the bias. I almost cut it out the wrong way round and wasted the fabric...

I then pinned, tacked, and stitched the darts into the front of the blouse, followed by the tucks that tapered out from the hem of the blouse. These worked wonders with the shaping, and it soon began to take on the shape of an actual top, not just a sack.

I didn't get as many photos of this point as I thought I did, but you can see one of the tucks here

Next, I sewed the two back pieces to the front, and created the facing for the buttonholes by ironing interfacing onto the edges of the pieces. This went fairly well...

As did the hemming. I did this by hand as usual, and according to the pattern instructions, this is "more authentically vintage" anyway! I just do it because that's how my grandmother taught me. Anyway - I prefer it, because it allows me to control the fabric more and it's also invisible from the outside.

One of the most fiddly parts came next: binding the neck edge. For this, I used a thin strip of material, bias cut (which means that the weave of the fabric is on a 45-degree angle, and thus the piece of fabric is stretchy). I had a brief moment of panic as I thought that I hadn't cut it long enough, then realised that one was meant to stretch the fabric to fit the neck edge. Though it felt wrong to be pulling at the fabric so much, I pinned it in place and sewed it, first securing the edge visible from the outside of the blouse, then moving on to the inside. 

Detail of the neck edge

Next was the hemming of the sleeves (which were "grown-on" sleeves, so no actual attaching of fabric needed). I rolled up an extremely narrow hem, wanting the sleeves to be as long as possible, and pinned and sewed it - fiddly but rather satisfying. Then, on to the buttonholes.

As Laura Ingalls Wilder says in Little Town on the Prairie,

"It is not easy to space buttonholes exactly the same distances apart, and it is very difficult to cut them precisely the same size. The tiniest slip of the scissors will make the hole too large, and even one thread uncut will leave it too small."

Yet she still manages to sew buttonholes onto four shirts in a few hours. Impressive.

I don't have any photos of this stage, unfortunately, but it actually wasn't as tricky as I thought it was going to be. I consulted my Encyclopedia of Needlework and set to work - by hand, as though it's possible to sew buttonholes on the sewing machine, I didn't want to risk ruining the whole garment in an instant by a slip. As Laura says in the quotation above, buttonholes are difficult and fiddly, and I know I'm not the only sewer who panics at the thought of them! I'm glad to have learned how to make them, and by the seventh one, I felt like I'd actually got the hang of it.

Then I sewed the buttons on, finished off the raw edges on the inside of the blouse so it didn't fray, picked off the various threads and pins clinging to it, and it was done! (I still haven't got out all of the blue thread with which I'd marked on the lines for the tucks... luckily it doesn't notice!)

This was a fairly easy project; though it required some concentration and definitely needed to be taken slowly, the process was enjoyable and satisfying. It's also a very comfortable blouse to wear. It makes any outfit look vintage!

Here are some pictures of the finished thing! 

That's me. Hello, world

Less blurry; you can see the pattern better here

The back, slightly foreshortened as the photographer was standing on a wall

If the fabric I need for the circle skirt ever comes back into stock, I will take a photo of them both together, as I think it would work better than my rather tired black denim skirt.

That's one of my autumn sewing projects completed. What do you think?