An old family polaroid can sometimes give you an instant spark of ideas that you can immediately picture the finished garment in your mind and all you need to arrive at the destination is to get started. Other times, you get started and all of a sudden meet a huge bump in the road that sends you off in a new direction. These moments can feel like a disaster, but more often than not, eventually you end up with something more brilliant than you could have foreseen.
The Inspiration
A photograph (above) of a young Eileen Brown (my Nan) sitting on a beach with a beautiful lightweight blouse, with puff sleeves, ruffles and a little frilly collar. It catches the breeze along the sea front and sets the tone for my search to find the right pattern and the perfect fabric. Sometimes I need to remind myself that the things I make are to be added to my current wardrobe, something that I will love wearing – inspired by her but created to suit me. More photos below show my Nan wearing the blouse on a trip to Butlins. The other woman in the photo on the left is my Great Auntie Mary, my Nan’s sister and best friend.
I set out to make a white, floaty blouse inspired by the photo of my nanny in the mid 1940’s. I found a fabric that I thought would really work, a sheer georgette/viscose (unable to identify the exact composition as it is from my stash of inherited vintage fabric). I started cutting out the pieces and got the blouse sewn together just before the sleeves were required to be attached. I had perfected my French seams, which I was really proud of because it’s been about 15 years since I last attempted them, but something was amiss.
The feeling of excitement was missing. I just knew I wasn’t enjoying it. I didn’t make time or prioritise making the blouse, which isn’t normally how I feel about my hobby. I had a long hard think about why I just couldn’t be bothered to make this blouse! I went back to my inspiration, my designs and realised that if I was to finish this blouse in this fabric, I wasn’t going to wear it. I didn’t like it. The only photograph I could find of the original fabric (left) with the French seams. The pattern is beautiful, the fabric is beautiful but they didn’t belong together. I made the decision to bin it and go back to the drawing board.
The Fabric
I was struggling with picturing the redesign and really didn’t want to make the same mistake twice choosing the wrong fabric for this pattern when I stumbled across an advert on Instagram (I hate to influenced by an advert, but it worked on this occasion) for Dalston Mill Fabrics. A dark green gingham cotton chambray stuck out and I clicked on the ad. Within 5 minutes it was ordered and on it’s way. I had chosen white lace to use with the previous fabric but that wasn’t going to work with the rustic charm of the green gingham. So instead I opted for a white broderie anglaise trim. I started sewing and fell in love with it straight away.
It took a week of evenings, after Elsie had gone to bed for me to get it washed, cut out and sewn together. The excitement to see the finished blouse was driving me to get it done. My sewing spark had been relit, thanks to the green gingham cotton chambray. Thank goodness! The blouse needed some small, subtle buttons. So I took all the buttons off of a Ralph Lauren shirt. (A shirt I don’t wear anymore, without it’s buttons, its still fully wearable for gardening or painting in so it won’t go in the bin.) The buttons were just too perfect to not use them. The night before my birthday, I had completed the button holes and added the buttons on, ready to wear for tea and cake at my parent’s house.
The Pattern
After looking at a handful of blouse patterns, I finally decided that the Liberty Thea Boho Sleeve Blouse was the one for me, I bought it from The Draper’s Daughter, my first purchase from them, their website has many, many beautiful things and I will back for fabric for another project. I loved the different options for collars, trimmings and sleeve styles, I felt like it was good value for money because there were so many future blouses I could make from one pattern. I also absolutely love the sleeves, the volume was more than anything in my wardrobe and more than I’d dared to wear before. I am trying to gain confidence and wear things I love even if they are a little out of my comfort zone. A big sleeve in a big pattern…I’d have to put my fear to one side and brave something new.
The pattern itself was labelled as ‘Easy’. I’d agree, it was easy; a smooth process. I didn’t make any mistakes and the blouse itself has a lot of detail. I’m not sure I would recommend this pattern for someone sewing for the first time, but the instructions were clear and the finished garment looks more complicated than the ‘Easy’ label on the packet would suggest.
The Finished blouse
The funny thing about starting out as a pretty, feminine, floaty 1940’s summer blouse, like my Nan was wearing in the original photo, is that it actually turned out to resemble a shirt that my grandad would have loved! He was mad about Country and Western music after spending months in America when I was young. Out of all the places he visited, Texas was his favourite.
He loved a Stetson, loved a western style checked shirt and we even threw him a surprise cowboy birthday party when he turned 80. Complete with hay bales and a live band, we even hired a line dancing teacher. It was a fantastic night.
The instant I put on my blouse, I wanted to show him. But that’s the thing about this blog and the reason why I started sewing again; It was to be inspired by and feel closer to people who aren’t hear anymore, who I love and miss so much. Fashion has a funny way of telling stories and showing us history in a way that nothing else can.
Let me know what you think!
If you’ve made a Liberty Thea Blouse tag me in your posts on Instagram – @charlottewalker_sews
A country and western inspired playlist, some songs I love and some songs that remind me of my Grandad Joe’s love of all things Cowboy.