Replies

1. 
   smcfarland | Aug 18, 2010 03:33pm | #1

   Author-designed garment for Lace Adornment in Threads no. 150

   Hi angelfish, I edited "Lace Adornment" by Susan Crane. Susan designed the lovely blouse herself, to take full advantage of the beautiful selvage on that sky-blue lace. I'm going to e-mail her about your question and I'm sure she would be happy to advise. So hang on and I'll get some answers for you!

2. 
   smcfarland | Aug 20, 2010 09:49am | #2

   Susan Crane's response to Lace Adornment blouse pattern question

   Hi angelfish, this is Sarah again, I have a reply from Susan Crane for you:

   "Thank you, I am glad that you liked the blouse pattern.  I find that is very wearable all year long here in Tucson.

   The basic shape that you are looking for is one that is about high hip length, has darts (bust, and back and front lengthwise), and has sleeves.  Then really the only thing that you have to modify is the neckline.

   The closest thing that I could find was Kwik Sew dress pattern #3704, though you could also use a blouse pattern that had bust, front and back darts, and shoulder seams (i.e. no yoke).

   I always make a muslin.

   The length and sleeves can easily be adjusted on the muslin.  Pattern companies today seem to make the sleeve width and depth to large.  I will usually raise the bottom of the armhole by ½” and fold out the sleeve head by a ½” also, right off the bat.  The sleeve on a blouse pattern will probably be still too wide and will have to be adjusted in the muslin stage.

   The back zipper seam on the Kwik Sew dress pattern needs to become a ‘place on the fold’ seam, and the left side seam is replaced with a invisible zipper with the opening starting at the hem of the blouse (though hooks and eyes would also have worked if the lace motifs overlapped toward the back). I would not do this in the muslin stage, until you cut out he back you wouldn’t be able to put it on to fit it.  On a blouse you would mark the center front and just pin it together for the fittings.

   The neckline.  In the muslin I would cut the shoulder seam longer towards the neck and higher.  Then with the muslin on, I just draw with a pen until I like the placement.  This goes for the back also.  On the front you will be placing lace edging over the top edge and stitching it down and cutting away the extra fabric so even after you have the design figured out, you still will have some ‘wiggle room’ for adjustments. 

   For the back, I made sure that I left some ‘wiggle room’ for the placement of the trim framing the cut out portion.  On my first muslin I cut it too wide, not only did it want to slide off, but I thought that my second try with a narrower width looked better, at least for me.  I felt that the wider back made my back look rounder (I’m 54).  I also marked (and cut) it so that it did not go lower than my bra.

   The blouse took a lot of playing around with in laying it out on the lace, to get the lower border in the right place, and the darts positioned so that I would be able to cut and overlap them.  I cut and repositioned the edging of the lace on the sleeves, the top edge, and around the back cut out.

    I hoped that this helped.

   Susan"