Ink spots

I'm a sucker for a good shirt pattern. Give me a simple silhouette and some interesting details and I'm totally hooked. That was the case with this little number -- the Blouse Cezembre from French pattern company Anne Ka Couture.  

Tired Mama face. Are my eyes actually open?

I can't remember exactly how I came across this pattern - maybe in my Pinterest feed? - but I was immediately drawn to it. The pattern features princess seams formed by an extra-wide back piece that actually wraps around your body to meet the front piece. The curved hemline, finished with facings, is such a nice design detail.

The fabric is a poly crepe that I stumbled across one day at Fabricland. I really like how those billowy ink blooms kind of swim diagonally across the bodice. I underlined the whole thing in rayon bemberg to give it a bit more opacity and to give me something a little more breathable against my skin. The underlining also allowed me to hand-stitch the neckline bias binding to the underlining, creating an invisible finish on the outside.

Mais oui, Cezembre.

Though I'm really happy with the finished product, the construction process was a bit of a doozy. I realized after I had taped the PDF pattern together that my scaling was off and my pattern pieces were waaay bigger than they should have been. (Shoulda measured that test square more carefully!)

I decided to forge (blindly) ahead and just sewed a size smaller than my measurements called for. Amazingly, the result wasn't too bad -- though I had to do some time-consuming tweaking around those princess seams and neckline to get the fit that I was looking for. It was one of those moments that made me realize that fixing your sewing mistakes is always worth it -- even if you think you can just improvise your way out of it. For me, trying to McGyver solutions on the fly is always more frustrating than going back and fixing the mistake. (#sewinglifelessons.)

Love those princess seams and curved hem.

All in all, I think this is a great pattern and a cute little shirt. It's one of those wardrobe pieces that you can throw on with a pair of jeans and look somewhat put-together (even if, like me, your haven't had a chance to shower that day). Fake it 'till you make it, baby.

Thank you, Mother Nature, for providing me with my very own wind machine.