sábado, 21 de septiembre de 2013

My Sassy Librarian Blouse

I took a class from Craftsy! And I loved it!

My reason for taking the class was to get my hands on the pattern of the Sassy Librarian Blouse
When I last checked, they were having a sale, it ends today!



On Glee Rachel describes her look as "Sexy Schoolgirl Librarian Chic". I guess this blouse would suit her wardrobe just fine. (Her wardrobe has improved dramatically since moving to New York, although I think she went through a little slutty period there as well). 

I figure I could have made this without taking the video lessons, because I have made shirts before, but I was eager to find out how a professional would tackle some of the construction details, so I followed the video lessons.

I swear I payed attention in class!
 So to the blouse. There are a few options:

Collar/Bow and Tab/None of the above

As I am a bit tired of seeing collars without collarstands on everything for women and girls alike, I went for the Bow and Tab option. I made a black bow first but when it was time to attach it I couldn't find it anymore and the black fabric was really slippery, so I then changed it to a red one, from a scrap from the red skirt.

I swear my skin is a bit more tan than the horrible skintone showing in these pictures!

Pleats in the front or not

This was the feature that drew me in in the first place, so I totally went for this.

 Sleeves or Armbands

As fall is approaching fast and my upper arms are not the most attractive part of my body, I added sleeves and lengthened them because I didn't really like the look of the sleeves of the original. For this I just extended the seam of the sleeve to +/- 30 cm. This worked out just fine for me.


I liked the way the class almost forces you to slow down and really pay attention to all the details. Believe it or not, because of this, I didn't have to use my seam ripper one single time! Not once! Two things that did go wrong though. First of all, there is neck gaping! I have the seam issue with my Peony. I should start paying more attention to this. Second of all, I tried attaching the buttons with my machine again. Every single one fell off. Any idea how to make sure the buttons actually stay on?


Although this class is clearly for beginners, I still learned a few things and seeing someone doing things in a video is just so much better than following a photo tutorial. 

This is what I had in mind when I bought the fabrics, a red skirt with a tucked in blouse.
I asked a few questions on the Craftsy Platform, and they got answered really fast.
I love the concept of these classes so much, that I have already enrolled in my next class 'The Couture Dress'. I am pretty sure this will be a lot more challenging, but I have been watching a few of the lessons and I already now that I am going to love this one too.


At the end of the photoshoot my ladybugs got hungry so I fed them some Sproutplant. They were happy after that because sprouts are delicious!

12 comentarios:

  1. Lovely blouse! I´d love to get one of those crafsty videos but I find them a bit too expensive. Maybe on sales?... anyways, back to your blouse. Love all the details, the pleats are beautifully made and the bow? wow! Really a master piece!

    ResponderEliminar
    Respuestas
    1. Thanks! I think it really depends on how well you know how to sew if the classes are worth the money or not. This blouse was a bit easy for me, but if I didn't know how to sew a sleeve or a collar, this would have been perfect to learn. I'm watching the Couture Dress class and I'm really learning a lot of different things...

      Eliminar
  2. Wendy, the whole outfit look great on you!!! How well you made ​​a class in Craftsy! I am thinking in taking classes in creativebug, they are offering, the september´s subscribtion only for 9,99 dollar! There are nice classes like the Sailor's Blouse.

    ResponderEliminar
    Respuestas
    1. Thanks! I took a look at the Creativebug classes. They look really great too! And I like the look of the Sailor Blouse!

      Eliminar
  3. What a cute blouse! Looks awesome with that red skirt. Well done!

    ResponderEliminar
    Respuestas
    1. Thanks Gillian! And the Navy Blue goes with my color palette!

      Eliminar
  4. What a lovely blouse you made. I really like the pleats and the blue/red fabric.

    ResponderEliminar
    Respuestas
    1. Thanks! I thought the pleats wouldn't really show because of the print, but they do, so I'm glad.

      Eliminar
  5. Sassy Librarian is definitely a good name for the blouse! Love it with the red skirt :)

    ResponderEliminar
    Respuestas
    1. Thanks! I saw both fabrics in the store, and thought they were meant to be together...

      Eliminar