Ordinarily the Selfish Seamstress it too wrapped up is important stuff like thinking about herself or doing things for herself or using other people for her own personal benefit to give a crap about anyone else’s emotional well being or mental health. But yesterday she got a comment on her blog from reader Katherine, who is obviously devoted and maybe just a teensy bit unstable after I didn’t post yesterday. Her words: “STOP DANCING! START SEWING!” Obviously, I have not been giving the public what it wants! Ordinarily, I wouldn’t care. But the minor freak-out made me worry if Katherine or others out there might resort to very desperate measures, such as torching a local Hancock or sticking a kitten with an entire box of Dritz pins, if I didn’t show some new sewing. And that might be more strife and drama than even the Selfish Seamstress can handle. Sometimes I almost forget how terribly, terribly important I am. Almost.

So last night (after my dance class- the Selfish Seamstress is not about to go without for your sake!), I finally put the finishing touches on my McCall 6035 blouse (thanks for the motivation, Katherine!), worn here with some self-drafted pants (the picture is making the color more vibrant than it actually is- it’s more of a standard navy in real life):

Okay, help me out here, because I’m not sure if I’m feeling this blouse. (See how bored I look in that photo?)  I went with the poet sleeve view on a whim after discovering that there wasn’t a classic sleeve with a buttoned cuff option and deciding I was too lazy to draft my own. Plus I thought the drama sleeve might be kind of fun and interesting.

I’m realizing that the poet sleeves conjure up two things in my mind: 1) My wannabe club girl wardrobe circa 1992 when my closet consisted entirely of black chiffon, white acetate, Depeche Mode t-shirts, black felt hats that I wore tipped too far back on my head, and poet blouses, and 2) catalogues with names like Coldwater Creek or Newport News that I only ever seem to see on the kitchen counters of my friends’ mothers’ houses. I think it is a pretty blouse that feels like it is utterly lacking in style. I’m not sure why it is that a similarly poet-y blouse looks so chic on Cidell, but so mom’s-going-to-the-office on me.

That being said, this pattern is a great basic which I’ll definitely make up again with different sleeves, and the fit of the bodice is perfect for me, after grading down one size to a 4. Melody had commented that she and others have had problems with the drafting of the princess seams which led them to not match up properly. This is one of those patterns that has the different pattern pieces for A/B, C, and D cups, so I’m thinking that maybe some sizes were drafted better than others? I used the D cup pattern and had no problems.  Just kidding, I used the A/B cup, duh, and the seams matched up just fine. Just checking to see if you were awake there. As you can see- the fit on this pattern is really good for me, with no alterations:

It’s slim fitting, the way I like most of my clothes to be, but not tight and it doesn’t pull anywhere. If I have any quibbles, I’d say that maybe I could have used a little less contouring in the upper back, as there seems to be a little space there in the shoulder blade region. But considering that this is a long-sleeved blouse, I suspect that if I removed that extra space, I’d also lose some arm mobility in this garment:

From a fit perspective, this is a great princess seam blouse for me, and I suspect it will become my go-to block for blouses. The fabric is navy stretch poplin and I did four fabric-covered buttons down the front (I knew I’d never button it at the top of the collar so I didn’t bother with buttons up there.

I should note that I’m currently in the middle of a bad run with Dan- he’s given me the thumbs down on this blouse (which I sort of agree with), the thumbs down on the Drama Queen Jacket (which I definitely agreed with), and the thumbs down as well on Pants-with-a-bow, and the vintage-inspired satin sheath (obviously he has no idea what he’s talking about on those last two, so I’ve stopped talking to him until he apologizes for having opinions which differ from mine.) What do you think?  Keep the wacky puffy sleeves or pull them out and replace them with some other ones?

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