Esther’s Adrienne Blouse

Seeing what I can make with 1m fabric is always an exciting challenge. I was so excited to see a knit fabric in this month’s box. I absolutely love the fabric, it has great recovery and maintains its beauty when stretched. 

With my handmade wardrobe being filled with woven garments, I enjoy the easier pace of making a knit garment.  I find that I gravitate towards woven dresses, trousers and skirts. I love that knits don’t need the same level of effort as wovens. I can usually get away with a lazy FBA which just involves increasing length on the front bodice piece. I also do most of it on my overlocker, making a nice and easy creation. 

I have been doing some serious sewing over the past few weeks and as any good sewist knows, you win some, you lose some with sewing. But the key to keeping your sewjo going in those moments of sewing uncertainty, is to punctuate your sewing list with tried and tested patterns. 

And this month’s box was exactly the welcomed punctuation that my sewing process needed. When I saw the fabric, I considered the Megan Nielsen Rowan tee. It fitted into my requirement of an easy sew. But I decided to go for a different old favourite, the Friday Pattern Adrienne blouse. I could go on and on about my love for this pattern. It is one of those patterns that the finished garment is so much greater than the effort put in. 

To get the right fit, I made a size medium with a lazy knit FBA on the front bodice – there are instructions on this on their blog. I find that the Adrienne blouse flares out from the waist which I am not a fan of, as such, I tapered below the waist of the bodice pieces by 3.5cm. 

The Adrienne blouse as is, requires more than 1M of fabric but I was determined to make it. So I played around with what to do. My first thought was to make the sleeves out of a different fabric. This would have been an easy option and the sleeves can also be made from woven fabrics. I decided against this and just used the fabric on its own. 

In the past, I had reduced the width of the sleeves to ensure the pattern fits my fabric width. But this was not an option in this case as the pattern pieces themselves were too long to fit the fabric. To  combat this, I removed 1 inch from the bodice length. I also removed 3 inches from sleeve length. Everything fit perfectly and cutting out was a dream. 

This pattern is a simple and quick make. It can be made faster on an overlocker but my overlocker was having a moment, so I made the top on my sewing machine. The sides and neckband are sewn with a zigzag stitch, while I added a hem using a twin needle. I don’t always hem knit garments, in fact, I am more likely to leave them unhemmed. Especially in the case of a top, knowing that I’ll mostly be wearing it tucked in. But still, I decided to play around with the twin needle hem, which I absolutely love. The elastic length of the shoulder and sleeves are based on the XS measurement to give my preferred fit.  

So glad with how this top has turned out. It fits instantly in my wardrobe. I got to wear it for my trip to Marseille and it was a hit. And it fits perfectly with my purple Winslow culottes.