Things I've Sewn Lately: A Betsey Johnson Floral Pendrell Blouse

I love my first Sewaholic Pendrell blouse so much that I immediately made a second one. 

This fabric is a fantastic Betsey Johnson cotton print I picked up from Mood when I was ordering my beloved Oscar de la Renta bow-print twill. And, of course, when I got the Pendrell pattern from Jennifer, I saw this fabric hanging in my closet and with the slightly '80s look to the pattern (is that just me?) I decided it had to be made.

Unfortunately, I'd only bought a single yard of the Betsey Johnson fabric. Luckily, Mood must have been generous with its cutting, because I had just over a yard. And with some creative cutting (the bias facings were done with quilting cotton and one of the sleeve ruffles is pieced) I made it work. But I definitely had to lay out the pattern pieces multiple times. 

Luckily, with all my '80s inspiration, I was watching "Pretty in Pink" and it didn't seem so bad. 

Since the fit on the first blouse was so good, this one sewed up in a flash. I had a bit of a problem making the ruffles match, but, if I'm being honest, that's no fault of the pattern. I rarely cut notches into my patterns, so I went to eyeball this one and got it wrong TWICE before I finally measured it out and got it right.

Hey, I'm nothing if not stubborn!

I'm not convinced that I love the styling here -- I wore this blouse to work today tucked into jeans with little black flats, and I liked it much better. I think such a statement at the shoulders must necessitate a closer-fitting bottom, maybe? 

Either way, I really like this blouse. To me, it feels like wearing a birthday party -- which is a strange thing to say, I suppose, but it really does! It feels festive. 

Last week, I discovered, too, that my awesome sewing pal Juli, who I met at the last NYC meetup, made the exact same view of this pattern in the exact same fabric! I think it must be that this fabric just exists to be made into Pendrells, yes?

What do you say? Molly Ringwald marathon, anyone? Mood still has the fabric if you want to get in on this. ;)

Things I've Sewn Lately: Chambray Chardon

Since it's Mother's Day, I thought my favorite girl should join me in posting about my new favorite skirt! Porter is really bad at staying still for pictures, so he hung out in the backyard while we took these. 

This is the Deer and Doe Chardon skirt. I made the view with the belt loops, but there's also a really cute version with a bow at the back and a contrast band around the bottom. I hope to make one sometime soon!

I ordered several Deer and Doe patterns recently and this is the first I've made up. I must say, it was lovely to work with. The English instructions were very clear and the pattern is printed on nice heavy paper.

This skirt has several interesting features. It doesn't have a waistband, just a facing at the top that folds under, which made me a little hesitant about how it would look.

It also uses bias tape to hem the skirt, which I hadn't done before.

Instead of purchasing bias tape, though, I just made some with my electric bias tape maker and some white quilting cotton. I bought the Simplicity bias tape maker recently from Amazon when I was making yards and yards of bunting for the wedding. It is much cheaper to make bias tape than to buy it when you need 50 yards of it!

The pleats in the skirt are fairly simple to make and they're topstitched so they stay put even after washing. This skirt needs ironing because it's chambray, but the pleats, at least, stay pleated nicely, which I was very pleased with.

Lyra likes them, too.

The fabric I used is a lovely medium-weight chambray I bought on our most recent trip to Seattle at Drygoods Design.

I am obsessed with chambray recently. It's so lovely to sew with and so nice to wear. It does tend to wrinkle, but I love it anyway.

Here I'm wearing the skirt with a white Sewaholic Renfrew shirt I made recently to go with my summer skirts. I left off the bottom band off so it wouldn't be bumpy under skirts.

Although, now the new Nettie bodysuit pattern is out, that's definitely going to be my next top to make to go with summer skirts. I've never had a bodysuit before, but I can't wait to try one!

Have you tried any of the Deer and Doe patterns yet? I hope to make the Belladone next!