Simplicity 3786 – A Peasant Blouse

After my Ramble last week through peasant blouse looks, I was so ready to cut some fabric! Especially since I’ve been doing a lot of fooling around this month, and not much sewing. Well, to be honest, I did sew early in the month – two real wadders that will never visit this blog! What a downer! 

But I feel better now 🙂 

Simplicity 3786 is now a favorite – it has so many looks. I used it for my much-loved orange and gold tunic last fall, and I turned to it again for this peasant blouse. This time my starting point was Version D, which has a pintucked bodice, a small gather in the back, and unique two-piece sleeves.

I had already altered my tissue for a couple adjustments when I sewed my first version: I moved the bust apex down 2 inches and added 1 3/4″ to the bottom hem (I’m a bit over 5’7″ and cut a size 14). The bodice has princess seams, so moving the curve for the apex fix was not difficult.

Pretty pintucks, only 1/4″ wide. They were the most challenging part of the construction – my fabric wanted to slide away from the needle when I stitched over a dot or embroidery. I sewed them veery slowly!

And such nice sleeves! I like the slight off-shoulder look and the proportion of the upper and lower sleeve. The length is perfect for me and the wristband, which is plain, no elastic, is roomy without gaping.

I put together the sleeves entirely, including finishing, before inserting them in the blouse. 

The gather in the back, just above the waistline, is a 6″ long attached casing, through which a small elastic is drawn. It’s a nice little touch and gives just a hint of shaping to the back view. The upper back is wide and works really well for me –  but you might want to measure and adjust this piece so that your armscye stays where it should be.

My fabric was sort of a lucky find – I’m not usually drawn to dotted swiss fabric. But I decided to give it a try when I found this Maggy London dotted swiss at Fabric Mart (online). It is sooo soft, much like a gauze, and has flocked dots and delicate flower embroidery.  

I pre-laundered it in the machine with another yardage of plain cotton, then dried them together on low as well. No loose embroidery or lost dots or wrinkles. Having fallen in love with it, from now on I’ll wash it inside-out in a lingerie bag 🙂 

Because the fabric is a bit delicate and semi-sheer, I used french seams everywhere except the sleeve and armhole seams, which are trimmed and overlocked.

 hmmm…didn’t I change anything? well, yes. The pattern has a mandarin collar – and I wanted something softer and more in line with a peasant blouse. This turned out to be much easier than sewing a mandarin collar! I cut a 1 1/2″ x 46″ bias strip, which binds the neckline and hangs down about 16″ on each side of the bodice.

I’m happy with this peasant blouse – back on track, mojo working…

Oops, I forgot to mention the pants. They are Marci Tilton’s skinny pants – next blog post! They are great….

Ciao! Coco