Simplicity 8601 Tie Front Blouse

Hello there! I’ve been so engrossed in sewing lately (working for a client and then making a coat for myself) that I forgot to blog about this make (shame on me!). I made my Simplicity 8601 tie-front blouse about 3 weeks ago so perhaps I should get on with it and chat about it now.

Firstly, the pattern. I’ve seen a few versions worn by Instagrammers and bloggers online and liked the look of them a lot, especially how the tie front brings in the volume at the waist to create some structure. Oh, and the neckline shape is nice and simple… just my cuppa

I think my orange checked fabric must have lived in my stash for about a year. I bought it from LouLou Designs and it’s a lightweight viscose crepe. The checked pattern is yarn dyed and it has a gold thread running through it too, which makes it really pretty. 

The reason for pairing the fabric and pattern together is that I was drawn to view A of the pattern, which is shown with stripes cut on the bias that meet in a chevron design at the centre front and I really wanted to utilise the bias look with my checks too… but those checks made my cutting out job rather tricky!

If you look closely at my fabric you’ll see that the checks although symmetrically square in shape have some asymmetry in the position of the gold thread and cream stripes, yet I wanted to completely match all of the lines.

So in order to match those pesky gold threads I had to do my cutting out on the living room floor with my fabric in a single layer. I needed to change the orientation of each piece in order to line up the threads. It took me aaaaages to position everything just so, but I got there eventually!

I cut a size 12 around most of the pieces grading to a size 10 at the neckline and shoulders I made a forward shoulder adjustment and added a modest bust dart without doing the sort of full bust adjustment that involves slashing through the pattern… I simply drew a dart and then adjusted the back side seams to match the front side seam. I needed to reduce the back length anyway so it was a simple no-brainer

The sewing up was pretty straightforward apart from quite a bit of basting to make sure that I matched my checks. I ended up lowering the neckline by about three-quarters of an inch.

For the sleeves, I went with view A again and added enough length to the pattern to make them full-length. Then I added a little detail because of don’t like the feel of a wide sleeve flapping about my wrists, so I simply added some ties to reign in the fullness and I love how they look tied into little bows. 

And that’s it. Apart from the extra effort to get my pattern matching this turned out to be a refreshingly straightforward make (which was very welcome after my last blouse-making attempt!). 

 It’s the kind of blouse that will fit my lifestyle really well and will layer nicely under jackets and cardigans. It also works well with any type of jeans or trousers and skirts too. Pretty versatile really.

I won’t be leaving such a gap between posts because I have a coat and skirt to share with you so stay tuned for those.

What have you been sewing lately? Tell me in the comments…

See you soon!