Free Pattern: Shawl Collar Blouse with Pintucks
Make a beautiful shawl collar wrap blouse with an original embellishment
A twin needle and contrasting thread add festive pintucks to the shawl collar of a sheer blouse designed by Carol Spier and sewn by Anna Mazur. Download the pattern and sew one for yourself.
To complement Carol Laflin Ahles’s article “Terrific Twin Needle Effects,” author Carol Spier designed a shawl collar blouse. It has a wrap-front style with a large shawl collar that just begs for pintuck embellishment. If you’d like to make the shawl collar blouse yourself, you can download and print out the one-quarter-scale schematic diagram for the pattern. Enlarge the pattern and make a beautiful top.
The design is a loose-fitting, sleeveless, wrap-front blouse shown on the cover of Threads #107.
Print out the free pattern
The pattern schematic is a size small-medium. It will fit bust measurements from 30 to 36 inches. It closes with waistline ties, which make the sizing adjustable. To be sure of the fit, we suggest you make a muslin test garment. To make a version of the pattern in a larger size, you can apply the technique of cut-and-spread pattern grading.
The pattern includes 5⁄8-inch seam allowances on all edges. The design is intended for sheer or lightweight fabrics that are attractive on both sides. That way, the collar can roll back without a facing. Finish all of the edges with a narrow rolled hem.
Embellish with pintucks
Tucks in general are described by The Fairchild Books Dictionary of Fashion as “a means of controlling fullness of a garment.” At the point where a tuck ends, it releases fabric fullness. Tucks are often arranged in series and designated by width. Pintucks, like those shown on the wrap-front blouse, are only wide enough for a row of stitching.
The colorful, short, parallel rows of pintucks shown on the blouse’s collar are purely decorative. It is a great way to bring color and texture to a plain fabric. You could try the same pintuck technique on different garment sections. For example, add pintucks to a skirt panel, or on another area of a shirt, such as a back yoke. For better results, add the pintucks to the fabric before you cut out the pattern piece. That will ensure that any small amount of fabric intake from the pintucks does not affect the size of the section being sewn into the garment.
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