1.  Ladies Blouse #0191, bust 36”
2. My sewing level is advanced (though after this project, I question that!)
3. It does look like the illustration on the pattern, but not exactly (due to my changes).  I like the result, but would rate this a 3-4, given fiddly details and the quantity of hand sewing.
4. The pattern would be best for intermediate and above.
5. Instructions were confusing in places, did not address a couple of steps, were ordered awkwardly at times, and left me with questions as I went along.  Suggestions for clarifications are listed below.
6. Sized for bust 36”, waist 25”.  Added a total of 2” to accommodate 37” bust, and wish I had added more ease both across the bust and under the arms.  This was a surprise given that the measured pattern seemed sufficient, and the muslin for the lining fit well with only 1” added.

Used cotton batiste for both lining and bodice, with harvested embroidered linen (from petticoats) for blouse and sleeve trim.

1. Changed the width of the blouse trim to feature an embroidered motif.

Added 1” width to back of bodice, lengthened bodice 1 ½”.

Added button placket to back (emergency measure to add width!)

Did not add beads as trim, as unsuitable with embroidered trim.

1. I’d be careful to whom I recommended this pattern.  It is fiddly with much hand sewing, but does off a good example of the period.

Suggested changes to instructions (in italics):

pg. 5 (under “Cutting”), para. 4 and 5, Bias Binding Strips: additional bias strip is required if one is to bind the bottom of the sleeves (see pg. 6, para 6)

pg. 6, para 3and 4: “Place the Right Blouse Trims right sides together and base(sic) to hold in place.”  This should read “Place…. wrong sides together and baste…”, unless trim is stitched and turned, in which case, that should be specified.  It might be helpful to a beginner/intermediate sewer to point out that for a bound edge, one must remove the seam allowance first.  The bound edges were tricky.  I would revise the construction for the decorative blouse trim to make it such that a commercial trim could be added for the (almost) same effect – that is, I would place the blouse trim right sides together, turn it, and then add edge trim as desired.

pg. 6, column 2, para 1: might be helpful to indicate pleat depth.

pg. 6, col. 2, para 2: Suggest pre-measure binding and seam up before placing on sleeve.  If not, one must hand stitch exposed raw edges.

pg. 6, col. 2, para 4: Suggest turn under entire blouse neck edge with a narrow hem (clipping at corners of front) for a finished edge.  If not, remaining neck edge remains raw.  If bound, then there would be two bound edges together at the back neck edge, which would be bulky.

pg. 6, col. 2, para 7: Suggest move instruction to add beads to blouse trim following felling in the lining, or following working the button holes/buttons.

pg. 6, col. 2, para 8: Suggest move instruction to “Place Blouse Trim on Blouse…” to follow hemming the blouse neck edge.  Would suggest to baste in place before sewing on by hand or machine (I sewed on the blouse trim by hand from the back).  Then add:  “Sew up blouse side seams, taking care to sew binding together beyond seam.” 

pg. 6, col. 2, para 6: Suggest move this instruction to precede para. 5.  It is simpler to finish the bottom of the sleeve before setting it in, and even simpler to do so before sewing up the sleeve seam.  It should also be noted that the upper edge of the sleeve trim should be finished (bound), hemmed, or sewn to the sleeve.

pg. 6, col. 2, para 5: Suggest change “Gather upper edge of Sleeve.” to “Ease upper edge of Sleeve.”  This applies to line 4 as well.

Notes as I went along:

July 8, 2012  I decided to make this up along with skirt#0162 into a walking whites outfit, suitable for a period afternoon tea.  Thus, any contrast will be with texture rather than color.  I have hand embroidered trim harvested from period garments for the blouse and sleeve trim.  Both the main fabric and the lining are cotton batiste.  I have some lovely flower shaped mother-of-pearl buttons, size line 16 (approx. 3/8”) for the trim and closure.

I made up a lining muslin with the sleeves for fit, and needed to lengthen the bodice by 1 ½”, and its width by 1”.  The blouse is intended for a 36” bust and 25” waist, so adding 1” means it should be true to size.  (Later, it was apparent that I should have also made up a muslin for the blouse, as once the blouse and lining were combined, more ease was needed.  My mistake!  Another time, I would add 1” to both front and back, but this time had to resort to adding a button placket at the back.  That in turn unsettled the fit at the neckline…).  Conclusion: measurements for upper chest and back (above the bustline) must also be checked, as the pattern seems to run small at that point.

July 10, 2012   Pg. 6, para. 3, line 1: “Place the Right Blouse Trims right sides together and base (sic) to hold in place.” should read “Place ….. wrong sides together and baste…”  (If this is not so, at what point is the right side exposed?  Unless the trim piece is turned after basting, but that is unlikely if the edges are to be bound.)

July 11, 2012   This is a very fiddly blouse, with lots of bits of hand sewing as one goes along.  The binding around the blouse trim was tricky with so many corners to make tidy.  It might be preferable to sew the blouse trim right sides together, then turn inside out and apply edge trim as desired (see comment above).  Because I needed to accommodate embroidery harvested from an older garment, I made the blouse trim wider, and did not remove the seam allowance when binding it.  (It was necessary to hem the blouse trim neckline for fit; I hemmed it with the seam allowance bound for a clean finish.)

The almost finished blouse trim

I decided to bind the bottom of the sleeves before setting them into the blouse.  It would have been even easier to bind them before sewing the sleeve seams.  I did not “trim the Sleeve Trim edges narrowly…” (pg. 6, para. 2, line 5), but did a catch stitch to keep them flat to the inside of the sleeve for a quiet finish.

Sleeve trim detail

There is no direction to sew the side seams of the main blouse.  I suggest adding that after dealing with the seam allowance along the blouse front neck edge and prior to setting in the sleeves.

July 13, 2012   I suggest measuring and seaming the ends of the binding strips for the blouse front armholes before placing and stitching them on, to avoid raw edges .  I did not do this…  I sewed on the binding strips, and then sewed up the side seams.  Voila the raw edges!  I tucked the raw bits in and hand stitched them to be tidy.

Instructions say to “Turn under the seam allowance along the Blouse Front neck edge…”  Question:  only the front neck edge?  Seems one should turn the entire blouse neck edge under, as later on, the lining will be felled to it.  I turned the whole neck edge and narrowly hemmed it, since the blouse trim already provides the finished edge one sees.

Suggest change “Gather upper edge of Sleeve” to “Ease upper edge of Sleeve.”

It has become clear that adding one inch to the back was not enough.  Now that the blouse is virtually complete, I am adding a button placket to the CB to offer an additional 1” ease.  This means that the basque also needs widening…

July 14, 2012   I notice that the front trim “tab” detail does not align with a pleat as illustrated (maybe to look like a front closure?).  I checked the pattern pieces again, but still don’t see how they would align with the pleats being set as they are.  Am I missing something here?

It should be noted that the sleeve trim should either be finished at its top hem, or stitched to the sleeve.

July 16, 2012   It took several hours to complete all the hand sewing, felling the lining to the blouse as invisibly as I could.  By the time I was finished, I wondered just how much the ratio is of hand sewing to machine sewing.  I chose not to add beads to the front trim – the embroidery on the trim is sufficient decoration.  The blouse looks as I hoped it would!  It will be worn with skirt #0162 (white sutache on white linen), a very large white hat (with *lots* of flowers on it), gloves and a parasol.

Finished! Blouse 0191 in cotton batiste

Our first pattern – Blouse EO191. We made this to the pattern size since neither of us thought we would wear it as it wouldn’t be flattering. We made it up in white muslin, with the trim pieces in beige dotted cotton that we had laying about. We wanted to make it fully lined and with most of the finishing (everything but back buttons). We were not able to do any fittings during construction. Apparently we are giants, and our smallest dress form was perfect except its neck which is HUGE. The lack of arms was a problem too…
We are re-learning sewing after modest experience in our youth. We opted to try to follow the instructions as written and write about how it worked for us. Some of the instructions confused us, but we expected that. Some of the choices we just didn’t like and would do differently if we were making it for us.

Trim
Sleeve trim – sewing the bottom of the trim to the sleeve with a small turned-under hem would not be our choice although it may be the easiest choice with the curved hem. We thought self-facing would look a lot nicer. There are no instructions for attaching the top of the trim piece so we top stitched it to the sleeve. Depending on the fabric used, there are doubtless better ways to do that too.

Neck trim – We chose to double the fabric because our fabric was very thin. We needed the extra body, especially with the beads. It didn’t meet in the back, even though we took slightly larger pleats in the front of both the blouse and the lining. This may be because of placement. We aren’t really sure. Others didn’t seem to have this problem. It didn’t lay flat on the shoulders once we put it on the blouse. The blouse itself lay smooth on the dress form and the lining matched well. Again, it could be placement, and solved by moving the trim higher up the neck. We couldn’t test that due to the dress form limitations (linebacker neck) and my unwillingness to make my 10 year old son cross-dress for this project. And then the binding, the binding that kicked out butts. This is very obvious at the point in the front. It’s not symmetrical top and bottom. We know what we did wrong. We chose not to fix it and call it an awesome learning experience. Here it is without the blouse.

Sleeves
They seem to stand out from the body and cant forward. We assume this is period styling. They went in easily using the pattern markings, although we had no ease (even though the pattern suggested we would). When we sewing in the lining, we sewed it right under the binding added at the shoulder.
Blouse body and lining

We re-folded the pleats out of personal preference. We took about an inch of additional volume out of the top. We sewed the binding strips to the shoulders before we we sewed the side seams which was easier but not nearly as tidy looking after we sewed the side seams.
The lining had us stumped at first. We started by lining it up at the neck and it just didn’t fit. It was far too small. We un-pinned it and started over at the arm scythe and everything matched right up. Thing is, we ended up having to trim quite a bit of fabric from the lining at the neck opening which made it too big. We added a couple of pleats on the inside and it looks nice.

We didn’t like the blouse bottom finish in the front. We thought a narrow binding strip over the gathers would look a lot better.
Finally, we really liked the little basque in the back. We thought it would look a bit silly, but really ended up liking it.

Not Surprising -
The drawing of the blouse is much longer and leaner than the actual garment.

This took us 7 hours from cutting to final press and pictures.
One adult beverage (each)
About a ’4′ on the profanity scale (primarily due to the $*#&$ binding).
We planned to finish this in a day but we were pleasantly surprised when we actually succeeded.

Official checklist!

Pattern name – Blouse  0191

Our Skill Level – Intermediate

Pattern Rating – ’3′   It was cuter than we thought when we started, but would only really be flattering to a young and slender woman.

Skill level to construct – Advanced – the binding on the neck trim, fitting the lining in the blouse, placing the neck trim on the blouse and constructing the back opening would all be challenging.

Instructions easy? – They were OK.  Oddly, there was no instructions to sew the side seams.  We had fun with it, but I wouldn’t let my daughter (a beginner) get close to this without supervision.  (wink)

How was the fit/sizing – True to pattern measurements.  We forced my daughter to try it on and it fit her like a dream!

No alterations (although we did make a couple mistakes that we had to cover up!)

I also thought it would be a good project to try because it would give me ideas for a “current” blouse for myself.  I love making vintage clothes but I don’t tend to wear them; this blouse was given to an actress friend who has the kind of life where she gets to wear interest clothes all the time.

Because we don’t have ladies’ maids to help us get dressed in the morning, I modernized the pattern a bit, but I tried to keep it as unobtrusive as possible by inserting an invisible zipper upside down in the left side seam so that the zip opens at the hem.  Ease of getting in and out of the garment was really secondary; when I realized that because of the shape of the pattern piece the vertical front stripes would chevron down the back, no way was I going to interrupt that with buttons.  And so the zipper idea was born.

Another change I made was due to fabric constraints.  I picked this ivory and tangerine striped silk dupioni that I’ve had in stash for well over 20 years.  It was perfect for the blouse, but I couldn’t find a contrast fabric I liked for the sleeve trim / cuffs and collar.  I tried an ivory satin that I had on hand, but it was the wrong shade.  I tried a lace overlay that softened the coolness of the ivory, but it looked fussy and wrong – the blouse is so sleek, I didn’t want to go over the top with a fussy collar.  So for the moment, I’m sticking with the square neckline from the under-blouse, slightly widened and bound with bias trim. 

I also bound the hem with bias, and after removing the satin / lace sleeve trim (because of course I didn’t change my mind until the cuffs were on and the collar was constructed and bound with all that silk bias tape), I cut new sleeve trim from the blouse silk.  Since the sleeve stripes were on the cross-grain, I cut the cuffs on the straight.  It was really just another opportunity to play with stripes. 

My favorite things about this pattern were the front pleats – it took a little while for the instructions to sink in for some reason, but then I looked at it and it made perfect sense.  The edge stitching makes it easy to re-press the blouse later, too.  I also love the drafting of the bodice piece.  Without a shoulder seam to interrupt the stripes, the chevron just occurred naturally.  I’m looking through my pattern stash right now for a blouse that I can redraft to do just this.

One of my reasons for signing up for the 1912 Project was to learn new techniques.  I feel like I definitely got something from this project, both in a historic-sewing sense and also in a way that I will be able to translate into sewing for myself.

And my friend got a beautiful new blouse from it (that may or may not eventually get a contrast collar, if I ever find the right fabric).

Personal blog post here; Patternreview here.

Edited 4/24/12 to add VPLL Project Checklist:

1. Pattern Name E0191 Blouse

2. Sewer’s Skill Level: Advanced

3. Pattern Rating: 3 – Good/Average. I’d give it higher marks but I think it’s a pattern for a very specific body type; some of the VPLL patterns I’ve tried are much more wearable by a wider selection of people.

4. What skill level would someone need to sew this pattern and why? I think this pattern is fine for an intermediate sewer so long as they are patient and follow the directions, simply because some of the techniques are not familiar to a modern day sewist.

5. Were the instructions easy to follow? If not, what needs to be changed? I thought they were fine. I got a little confused about the pleating at first, but I took a break, re-read them and fiddled with the fabric and it all worked out. That’s generally what I have to do when I can’t get the words to make sense. The fabric doesn’t lie, and it rarely confuses. One other note: the instructions say to gather the sleeves into the armscye, and there isn’t sufficient fabric in the sleeve piece to do that; I inserted the sleeves flat and they fit without easing.

6. How was the fit/sizing? Did it correspond to what you thought? It was spot on to the measurements promised on the pattern.

7. Did you make any pattern alterations? If so, what alterations did you make? Were they fit or design alterations? I made one fit alteration, which was to add an extra pleat in the front because the friend who got this blouse is a bit smaller-busted than the planned measurements. My design alteration were the following: I omitted the optional lining (requested and also my fabric was opaque enough) and to add an invisible zipper in the left side seam because I wanted her to be able to dress herself and I also hated the idea of interrupting that beautiful chevron of stripes with a button placket. I also left off the collar because my fabric choice didn’t work and instead I widened the square neck by about a half inch and bound it in striped bias tape. I also bias-bound the hem to neaten the edges at the zipper insertion.

8. Changes I’d like in this pattern: It worked beautifully as drafted, but if it’s made up with the original back closure, it should be altered to either add a button placket or note that extra fabric needs to be added to accomplish this.

9. Changes to instructions: The instructions were clear, if minimal. You might want to suggest a side zip or buttons/snaps for those who aren’t going for complete authenticity; it made the blouse much easier to wear. Otherwise, my suggestion above regarding redrafting to add a button placket or a note to add enough fabric to make one.

10. Discussion of fabric/trim, etc. I’ve had this tangerine-and-cream striped silk dupioni for at least 20 years, waiting for the right project. The only problem was that I couldn’t find a contrast fabric that I liked at all, which is why the blouse is made of one fabric only.

11. Description of technique – insertion, cutwork, etc. This was a pretty straightforward pattern, construction-wise. My only real contribution to construction on this is to note the invisible zipper insertion in the left side seam. I inserted it so that it opened at the bottom, which made it very easy to get in and out of the blouse.

Emboldened by my success with the princess slip, I requested another pattern. The E0191 blouse.

Having a lovely blue eyelet  and a matching chiffon remnant that had seduced me with it’s pretty blue pattern and ten peso price (about seventy five cents US)  in my stash I decided to use them for my muslin.

The  only changes I made to the lining were slashing and spreading  the  bottom of the front pattern piece to add four inches, for a total of eight additional inches in the front waist. I made the lining first and tried it on. It fit perfectly though I thought that the neck  and armscye seemed a bit too tight. The waist hit my natural waistline after I gathered the sides.

When I altered the blouse body, I decided to add an extra inch to the front because I felt that the chiffon would look better if it was fuller. I think I should have added more to the center front too, so I could have made deeper pleats.

Originally, I made the collar out of the chiffon backed with the lining fabric and trimmed with purchased bias. I had a roll of matching blue bias already, so I chose to use that instead of making my own bias binding. I didn’t like how the collar and the cuff trim looked so I appliqued some funky tie-dyed lace that I had salvaged from another garment. I think the collar and cuffs shrank somewhat because of the extra stitching. The collar was way too tight so I extended the overlapping pieces to make it bigger.

Trying everything on before I added the sleeves, it all fit. After I added the sleeves, the underarm and high bust area started pulling and was slightly uncomfortable. When I attached the lining to the shell, I made the armscyes deeper hoping that would help the problem. It did a little bit. I’ve been staring at the blouse for a few days now, and I think, to my horror, that I sewed the left sleeve to the right armscye and vice-versa. Comparing the way the sleeves hang in my version to how the sleeves hang in the drawing seems to confirm my suspicions.

Another problem that I had was that since I made the collar bigger, the neckline for the lining didn’t match up with the neckline for the shell. I should have fixed that in the pattern rather than doing it as I sewed the two pieces together.

The idea of removing the sleeves and reattaching them correctly doesn’t really appeal to me. I have visions of the chiffon fraying while the armscyes grow deeper and deeper and the sleeves shorter and shorter. Once I determined that I was not going to be wearing this version of the blouse, I decided to try two different variations of the bead trim. I like the one on the right best. Since I already had a white eyelet sash from another dress, I used that instead of making a new one.

I made tiny overcast seams or  French seams because the chiffon frayed. If I make this blouse again, I am going to make the optional basque but also add a basque to the front too. That way I can tuck the blouse into the skirt, or I’ll make another sash and attach the blouse like I did this time.

The pattern went together easily, the instructions were sufficient and clear. Any problems that I had were self inflicted, I don’t recommend using chiffon as a muslin, but I think it does make for a very pretty blouse.

Updating the E0191 Blouse information

 Review checklist:

Pattern name – 0191 Blouse

Sewing level – I would have described my own sewing level as advanced before I began with the 1912 project, but this pattern challenged me a great deal. I would have to say this uses advanced techniques. The trim leaves little room for error, and requires lots or precision to look exactly right. If one were drafting this, the one-piece bodice would take skill and experience in order to achieve a proper fit. I’ve read several posts which indicated trouble with the sleeves, but I wasn’t using those pattern pieces.

Fabric – I used a lightweight 100% linen which I surprisingly found at JoAnn’s Fabrics, a store that usually carries only very poor quality fabric. The gold coordinating fabric is also 100% linen. The buttons are from the LaMode line of reproduction buttons for specific eras and this set indicated it was from this period.

Pattern rating: Although I didn’t LOVE it at first glance, I welcomed the challenge. With the design changes I made, I now have a blouse that I’m really proud of and which looks GREAT – historical but wearable!

My changes to the pattern. As stated above, I used a sloper bodice as the base of the pattern instead of the one-piece bodice that was included in the pattern. I did not line the blouse. I lengthened the blouse about 8 inches to make a “shirt-tail “style hem. I added a hidden placket and added detail on the sleeves as pictured above. I chose not to add the beads.

Changes to the instructions – seam allowance needs to removed from the neck trim pieces. Most of the muslins and garments I’ve seen made up from this pattern have a much larger trim than the illustration that came with the pattern. Mine fit exactly into the guidelines on the bodice pattern piece.

Edited to add:

Bias trim on blouse

Constructing the blouse

Sleeves

Adding a hidden front placket

Given this width of placket, I needed to add 6 inches to the right side of the blouse and  2/18 inches to the left side of the blouse, measuring from the center front line (which was the fold on the original pattern). I also needed a little extra on the extension to account for the curve of the neck. (This photo is based on my sloper and doesn’t include the pleats on the 0191 blouse).

Then, here’s what I did.

Right (wearing) side of blouse – I folded 1 ¾ along the right front, WRONG sides together. Then 1 ¾ inches RIGHT sides together. Then I folded under 1 ¾ inches again. Here’s what that looks like, done with a piece of wrapping paper because that makes the right and wrong sides so much easier to see. (Obviously, I’ve cut the end at an angle to make it easier to see what’s been folded, and your blouse fabric won’t look like this!)

Now fold WRONG side over this entire placket so that raw edges and folds are encased (on wrapping paper, this showed as a solid line along the left edge of placket. When you fold on the solid line, and then stitch on the dotted line (in my case ¼ inch in), you’ve combined the placket with the innermost of the pleats, and it’s completely hidden, and raw edges is encased. I’ve folded part of the wrapping paper out of the way so you can see the relationship.

Now pick up the left (wearing) side of the blouse. You only need 2 1/8 inches here because this side is already hidden underneath the right side and you’ll be putting your buttons here. Turn under (wrong sides together) ¼ inch along the edge, and then turn under another 1 ¾ inches, Stitch close to the inner folded edge, shown here as a bold blue line.

Here’s how the pieces go together, staggered so you can see how the pleats hide the placket.

Hope this is helpful. Obviously, I now put the center back on the fold line, which means adding a shoulder seam to keep the stripes/grain line vertical on the front of the blouse. Or, I could just seam up the back.

I’ve really struggled with pattern drafting (I’m a total newbie to this aspect of sewing) so I’m going to try these alterations, along with long sleeves and cuffs, with a piece of rayon in my stash and then add the neck trim and bias insertion on the sleeve back in for the “final” project in striped linen which looks more “1912.”. Maybe everyone but me knows how to do these things, but if there is interest, I can post a step-by-step blog on the placket etc. This project isn’t giving me an extensive wardrobe, but it is sure teaching me some techniques and concepts I’d never managed to learn before. Not what I expected when I signed up, but it is really satisfying!

First, stitch bias trim along upper edge of sleeve trim. Photo is an admittedly small sample, but you will find that the bias adapts very easily to the curve of the sleeve trim. Press and fold as shown in picture.

Second, place WRONG side of sleeve against the RIGHT side of the trim and stitch across the seam allowance.

Third, fold trim to RIGHT side of sleeve and press (Photo 3) Stitch “in the ditch” if you fabric will allow it – or hand stitch in place for authenticity.

This is how finished sleeve (muslin) will look:

 Hope this is helpful!!