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Since I broke my serger, I needed a project that would tie me over without needing said machine too much. I chose to finish the Gertie B6217 Blouse (I cut it out sometime in March).
About the B6217 Blouse
I bought the B6217 Gertie Blouse pattern about a year ago and always wanted to make a blouse typ thingy. But also, a year ago, I did not have as much confidence in my sewing skills as I have now. So I just hoarded the pattern for the sake of it. This March though I thought – you need to make that now! So I made the necessary adjustments (FBA, swayback) and got to cutting. I especially like that this blouse has four back darts – that give a really nice shape to the back.
About the fabric
This lovely Robert Kaufmann fabric I got on sale from a local shop. It’s a 100% cotton batiste and therefore quite sheer. Also it has the tiniest fleur-de-lis on it, which I love. I think they might still have a little bit in stock if you’re interested.
About the construction of the B6217
I sewed the darts first and pressed according to the instructions.
Closing the darts
When it was time to sew in the inset (mind you, I actually thought by the diagrams that those insets were some kind of collar and was a little disapointed, it still worked though) I noticed that the instructions seemed to be off. Of course at first I thought I was too stupid to understand them but on closer inspection I noticed that the might actually be off…
This is how they tell you to pin it….
That just makes no sense. You would need to sandwich the insets between the facing and the self fabric…
… like this!
The rest of the pattern was easier than I thought and I had no trouble (apart from a fiddly neckline) to sew the blouse together. When checking the fit for the first time, I was shocked to see how puffy the sleeves were. That definitely is so not my style which is why I took out about 2 inches from the sleevecap. That seemed to fix the issue just fine.
Too much volume in the sleeves for my liking
Making the buttonholes was a breeze since I finally mastered the automatic buttonhole foot and I chose black buttons for this project. I got them from Knopftruhe.de…
Buttons
I would definitely like to make more of these B6217 blouses (maybe a little less sheer, perhaps) but not with those sleeves. On further inspection I saw that the view that Gertie was wearing has the most amazing sleeves. For the life of me I could not find these sleeve patterns anywhere in my envelopes (I guess I threw them away). Does anyone have a tip on how to draft something like this myself?? I guess I could take the original sleeve, shave off the excess puffiness and draw those petal sleeves (is that the name) in. I might try that, there’s really nothing to loose…
Happy Sewing!
I am currently in the process in making this very pattern and also having trouble with the inset piece – is there a way for me to view the pictures as they are not visible on the blog and no way to see them without an error message coming up
Hi Caroline
I can’t seem to find the pictures. But basically you sandwich the insert between the facing and the main fabric and stitch. You will have to clip the corner to sew it. Let me know if this helped.