Simplicity 8243 - part 2

Simplicity 8243 is finished, and while there are a few little issues, I'm really pleased with it overall. Unfortunately, a thunderstorm arrived just as I was about to go out and take the photos, so I had to find an indoor location with semi-reasonable light.

The completed blouse

The sleeves are very 1940s, with three small darts to shape the sleeve head rather than gathering, and a shoulder pad for support. I took my usual approach of attaching the sleeve to the armscye first, and then sewing the sleeve and side seams in one.

The pattern has what I assume is a period detail where the opening for the cuff is in the side seam, rather than a separate split in the body of the sleeve which is then finished with a placket. I've never come across this before, but then I've never made up a vintage pattern with cuffed sleeves before, either. Confusingly (for me, at least) the cuff piece is marked for the button and buttonhole, but the notch for joining it to the sleeve is bang in the centre of the piece. This means it's not obvious which cuff goes on which sleeve, and I'm not convinced that I got it right!

The cuff, and its annoyingly central notch

I took the advice in last week's comments (thank you again!), and went for the light buttons. Various online reviews of the pattern, which unfortunately I only read after I had cut it out, mentioned that the front button placement seemed odd. The general opinion was that the top button was too high, and the bottom button was annoyingly right under the skirt waistband, and that both should be adjusted - and this is what I did.

The reviews also mentioned that the blouse seemed a bit short by modern standards, and I found this as well. I made the hem as narrow as possible, to try to compensate.

I find that the upper collar/facing bags out slightly when I'm wearing the blouse, but I don't know if this is a fault of the pattern or a result of my (unnecessary) alteration to move the top button up. Either way, it can be easily fixed by securing the facing to the blouse underneath the reveres.

The left side facing is bulging out a bit here

None of these issues are drastic, but I will bear them mind if/when I make this pattern again. I may also finally grapple with a FBA, as the blouse is slightly snug at the bust point, but not due to lack of ease.

Slight pull on the bust when I have my arms back

As a general vintage blouse I like this a lot, however, and it would be well worth taking the time to tweak the pattern, as I can imagine getting plenty of use out of it.

I will write up the collar point turning method as a separate post, to make it easier to find.

Finally, the Stashometer has inched a little further towards stash-neutral.

Another 1.8m used