Make Of The Month; Sarah

Every month I trawl the #sewhayleyjanemakes hashtag to find out what everyone has been making and select one lovely maker to tell us more about their beautiful garment. This month it was Sarah @sdhyde29

Hi, I’m Sarah and I live in West Sussex with my husband, daughter Ruby who is 10 and Labrador Rosie. Thank you Hayley for asking me to do this, it was a lovely request to receive.

I opened my January Luxury box to a beautiful Atelier Brunette Viscose Dobby (3.5m) and a pattern from Experimental Space, the Josie blouse. I fell in love with the shoulder pleats and knew the fabric was a match made in sewing heaven. However, I also knew that this was a project that was going to involve a lot of swearing and unpicking on my part but when the sewing stars align who can resist!

I have been sewing for about 7 years and started off by sewing for my daughter, she had such a wonderful response to anything that I sewed for her that I continued until those fateful words were uttered “Mummy I think I have enough dresses now”, with that I decided until she had grown (which took approximately 5 minutes or at least it felt like that) I decided to sew for me! 4 years later and I now have a pretty complete and overflowing wardrobe of handmade clothes.

My sewing is prolific and I’m a fast sewer going for projects that are easy and don’t involve a whole lot of precision, I am not someone who will eulogise about how enjoyable the perfect top stitching was, in fact if I do top stitch it’s normally in a coordinating thread! Having said that I have made jeans, coats and shirt dresses so I’m not afraid of tackling something complex, I just know it will involve me walking away at some point to reset.

The Josie blouse involves precision particularly around those gorgeous shoulder pleats and as someone who doesn’t always follow the instructions, I had to take my time. Luckily the fabric was very well behaved, even when I had to unpick one of those shoulder pleats 4 times. The colour and texture are sublime, it’s not transparent at all and feels lovely against the skin. The dobby nature adds a subtle pattern and texture that captures the light. 

I am not an Atelier Brunette devotee and it’s not a fabric choice I would usually make, but that’s the beauty of receiving a SewHayleyJane subscription box. For me it’s a chance to experiment without feeling that I’ve invested lots of research time and effort into matching patterns and fabrics – I get to play instead!

I didn’t make a toile as I could see from the measurements this was a loose fit through the waist (the most challenging part of fitting for me) and hips. I chose according to my bust measurement and got going! The buttons on the wrist cuffs are ones that my husband found in a charity shop for me and in this off white/cream colour added a bit of elegance to the blouse.

I have worn this blouse more than I thought I would, it helps that this is a perfect top for all those endless Zoom meetings we all have at the moment as all the drama is on the top. I love it and may make it again once my sewing brain has recovered!

Thank you to Hayley for putting this box together it challenged me and resulted in a beautiful blouse that I enjoy wearing.