Mrs Depew 50s Blouse

As promised I am going to tell you all about my first experience with Mrs Depew's French pattern drafting. I bought pattern 6158 for a 50s blouse and capri pants and have made the blouse from this pattern. The capri pants are still on my to do list.

I was a little worried about how to draw out the pattern at first. These patterns are drafted by using the rulers included in the pdf files. You choose the ruler that matches your bust (or hips if making trousers) and use that ruler to draft the relevant pattern pieces.

The ruler is placed in the centre of a small circle which shows an image of the pattern piece to be drafted. You then make marks on your paper to correspond with the numbers shown around the edge of the circle. 

After making all of the neccessary mark, you join them up so that you have a larger version of the picture in the circle. This is your pattern piece.

After drafting the two pattern pieces needed for my blouse, I cut them out of my red gingham fabric. There are no instructions included with the pattern, but with only two pattern pieces the blouse was very easy to assemble.

There are also no facings included in the pattern, so I drafted my own. I traced the outer edge of my front pattern piece and just guessed where the facing would need to end, based on how far down I wanted to fold back the lapels of the blouse.

Having sewn in the facings, I then tried the blouse on and marked how high up I wanted the buttons to reach, before creating the buttonholes and sewing on the buttons.

The pattern was really easy to use and I would definitely recommend Mrs Depew's patterns. You need some basic knowledge of clothing construction to be able to deal with having no instructions, but this blouse was very simple to make. The only adjustment I will make in the future is to lengthen the pattern by a few inches as this blouse ends on my waist and I would prefer a slightly longer blouse so that I can tuck it into high waisted trousers or skirts.

There will be pictures of me in this blouse once my full vintage playsuit is completed. I will be wearing the whole thing when I go to Devon in just over a week!