This adorable pattern is the Love Notions Rhapsody Blouse and I’m quite happy with how it turned out. You might recognize the fabric from my Meet You There Dress. It’s some viscose crepe that I got at Stonemountain & Daughter and was once again very nice to work with. It presses so nicely though it does start to wrinkle after wearing which is why you see a few wrinkles in this photos. I was able to use the leftovers which I think was just a yard. Maybe a little less. But I was able too squeeze it out which means I’ve used almost all the fabric which is awesome as I try to whittle down my stash.
That pattern itself is pretty fast and easy. The hardest part is the bias strips that make up the neck and ties shown above. But if you go slow and pin sufficiently, it’s not too bad. The other thing I’d probably do if I had thought about it before writing this post (I’ve already made another version of this top, so on my third one I’ll do this . . . ) is to glue baste the bias strip down. Then I wouldn’t even need to worry about pins! Next time.
The back uses a yoke done with the burrito method (here’s a video I made with my second version) so the seams are all contained making for a nice inside finish. They recommend French seams for the side and sleeves, but while those look nice, I find them a bit bulky. Probably wouldn’t be on this fabric, but I’m just as happy serging and it’s faster so that’s what I do.
This back view also shows you the curved hem in the back. Probably one of my favorite parts. I really prefer to have my shirts cover my rear. I just feel more comfortable at work that way, especially in skinny jeans. So this is a great length to wear with jeans. Very flattering.
For the sleeves I went with a cap sleeve. This is actually the re-release of the pattern which has a short sleeve, not a cap sleeve. But I bought the pattern back in the day so I have both versions. The original version did have a cap sleeve although the armscye is now a different shape. So I was able to look at the original pattern, figure out the length of the cap sleeve and then alter the new short sleeve pattern with matching armscye to be the same basic shape. I’m not really into short sleeves unless it’s a t-shirt. Much prefer cap sleeves. I do wish the armhole were just a bit smaller as you can kinda see my bra in the picture above, but I don’t think it’s visible enough to bother me. Maybe I’ll change it in a future iteration.
This is the size small. I kinda wish I’d made the size XS as it’s a bit on the roomy side, but not in a bad way. The picture above shows the ease on the sides. You can see it’s pretty loose all around. However, I think it has to do with the fabric as well. I’ll talk more about the sizing in the next post with the second version.
This pattern is definitely going into my TNT (tried ’n’ true) pattern pile. It’s fast and easy and requires barely a yard of fabric (at least for the cap sleeve). So often I find some adorable fabric, but there’s only a yard left! Now I can make it work. I’d like to try making the original version at some point which curves in a bit more at the waist and possibly playing around with the neckline, so you’ll definitely see other variations of this (besides the second one which I’ll post shortly).
