Monday, July 28, 2014

Finished Project: SBCC 309 - Mimosa Blouse

Continuing on my personal quest to sew patterns from pattern companies that are friendly to my figure-type, I made up the SBCC Mimosa blouse last week:

SBCC Mimosa blouse
This is a great woven blouse for summer. It's easy-fitting without being boxy (it has bust darts for shaping), and the tie detail adds interest without being fussy. As you might be aware, SBCC specializes in petite sizes (both misses and plus sizes) with their patterns, but if you're taller, they all include lengthen-shorten lines so that you can easily lengthen at the right spots without guessing. I'm 5'2", and I've found the lengths of their patterns to be spot-on for me.

For this version, I used a coral colored cotton pique from Fashionista Fabrics that had been sitting in my stash for a few years. I loved the color, but wasn't sure that it's the best color for my complexion. Seeing the finished blouse, I do think that it brings out the ruddiness in my skin tone, but I don't really care. In any case, this fabric has a hand and drape similar to a blouse-weight linen. I actually feel that it was a little heavy for this blouse, now that it's finished. When I make this again, I will use a voile, lawn, or challis.

Mimosa + McCall's maxi-skirt
I have an older version of the pattern where, when you tape the PDF together, the pages need to butt right up to each other with no overlap. Betsy of SBCC has since released an updated, re-tiled version of the pattern that should be easier to lay out and tape together.

Fitting-wise, I made a size 1X at the shoulders/neckline then did a "cheater FBA" by grading to a 2X at the underarm. (My measurements match the SBCC 2X.) 

For the most part, I love the finished blouse, but there are some changes that I will make the next time around. First, I'm not crazy about the sleeve on this one. when the blouse is laid flat, the hem forms a big "C", and it's just sort of an odd shape. (I suspect that this is partially due to the plus sized draft/grading because I don't see it in the reviews posted by women clearly wearing smaller sizes than me.) You can see this a little bit in the pattern photo from the SBCC web site:

SBCC Mimosa sample photo

Also, the blouse rides up a little bit in front, so instead of doing a cheater FBA, I should have gone with a straight 1X and done an FBA. The dart itself is rather large, so I will likely need to rotate part of that dart elsewhere. (I'm thinking adding some gathers to the shoulder would be nice.) I would definitely like to make this blouse again and will probably use a lightweight woven print for my next version.

Bonus: If you're interested in making up your own Mimosa, this pattern (newly re-formatted for easier PDF printing) is on sale this week from SBCC. (Not at all affiliated, just passing the word along.)

18 comments:

  1. Lovely blouse! Too bad about the funky sleeve hem- I've had a problem with plus size wonky grading before and I said many bad words when I realized what the problem was ;). I've stayed away from SBCC patterns because I'm 5' 9", but maybe I'll take a peek after all.

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  2. I love the color (which looks good on you) and the raglan sleeves. This pattern has a lot of possibilities.

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  3. You have done a great job on the top. Very nice.

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  4. I've never looked at SBCC patterns before, but after seeing your lovely blouse I popped over to check them out. I ended up buying two patterns! The Mimosa and The Empire Waist Blouse. Thank's for the tip!

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  5. My comment got eaten :(

    LOVE! This looks great on you and the color is so pretty! SO pretty!!!

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  6. Ahhh ... my comment from my phone during my lunch break today never made it.

    So ... I was saying ... lol ... I think I'm misunderstanding, because what does it matter what the sleeve looks like flat? Are you also saying that it doesn't *fit* you correctly? I did have to re-fit the shoulder darts to my square shoulders and I think I see a bit of dart poof on you ... maybe adjusting those darts will make the sleeves fit better? I really like the sleeves on mine .... the coolness of sleeveless, or nearly, at the armpit for summer (TMI? lol), but coverage of the shoulder up top.

    Should've started off with saying how nice your Mimosa is and how much I covet that color, esp. since it matches the SBCC prototype that was one of the reasons I liked he pattern to begin with. The whole outfit looks fab on you. Coincidentally, I'm wearing my print Mimosa today too. I'm home from work now but still wearing it with my shorts ... it's just that comfortable.

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    1. Yeah, there is a little bit of a dart poof on the shoulder, but overall, the armscye and sleeve itself is just a bit big on me. A drapier fabric would have hid that better. So, next round, I won't try to "cheater" FBA out of a real FBA, dart rotation, etc, and I *think* that will fix the problem.

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    2. Yeah, the cheater is trickier in a woven cuz it's easy to end up with too-big armholes/upper chest width. Maybe a combo of cheater and proper FBA would be the magic trick to not end up with the dreaded honkin' big dart. Or maybe rotate part of the proper dart to the raglan seams. Just thinking out loud here ... :-) But for a "wearable muslin" (not really, but hopefully YKWIM), you definitely ended up with a nice top.

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    3. And ... (shut UP already Debbie!!) ... I gotta say, the more I see this skirt, the more I want one myself. I wish I had funds for some stripey knit cuz I'd be copying yours in a NY minute. :-)

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    4. Yeah, I'll often do a combo cheater/real FBA if something already has a dart to avoid the Big Honkin Dart issue. But I'm thinking that next time around, I'll just bite the bullet and rotate the excess dart into the raglan seams. I need a smaller armhole and sleeve on this top.

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  7. I love the color! Also, love the maxi skirt. Both look great on you.

    I've thought of giving SBCC patterns a try but I was worried about them being sized for petites (as I am 5'8"). I'm glad they include lengthen/shorten lines. I may have to buy this pattern.

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    1. If you have any doubt, you can email Betsy (the owner of SBCC) and ask for advice. She's very responsive to email questions. I've tried 3 SBCC patterns so far and found all of the lengths very good for my 5'2" self, so I'm sure you'd need to do some lengthening.

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  8. Nice! So, have you ordered the Sakura from HP already?

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  9. Thank you for the kind comments, everyone!

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  10. That looks lovely on you. And I like the colour- it suits you. Very nice indeed. Would look cute with jeans.

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  11. Love seeing your sexy ass in a skirt

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