Finished: Liberty Pendrell Blouse

I finally cut into my Liberty cotton.  I love the result.

It looks like a gorgeous field of flowers stitched into a blouse.  I originally planned to make this Liberty into a Mathilde blouse from Tilly.  But I made up a muslin and I just didn’t feel that it was the right choice.  The other day I wore my purple digital dot Pendrell and got the idea for this.

To make it different from my other purple Pendrell, I decided to add a collar.  I planned to add a Peter Pan collar from the Sewaholic Alma blouse pattern.  See my English Rose Alma with Peter Pan collar here.  Did you know that the Sewaholic Alma blouse has the same neckline as the Pendrell (!).  This made adding the collar very easy.  The purple for the collar is a satin backed crepe that I used for my Ballet Dress.  It was a nice weight so I didn’t have to interface it.

As I was cutting out my pattern pieces I had Downton Abbey on.  Rose (on the show) came into the kitchen and had a pointed flat collar that didn’t join in the middle.  Then she wore a necklace which sat right in the gap.  I immediately took my chalk to my collar pieces and instead of the rounded edges I drew a straight line from neckline to the collar bottom taking off an inch or so.  This way it wouldn’t join in the middle as it is drafted to do.

I really like it.  I think it’s unique and surprisingly modern for an old-fashioned collar style.  (I assume it’s true to the era of the show – 1920’s.)  Working with the Liberty cotton was a dream.  I need to buy better quality fabric.  Not saying that I need to sew with Liberty every day but what a difference!

In other news, we updated the firmware on our camera.  The focus is now hugely improved.  I can’t believe the detail in the fabric that it captures now.  That being said it will also catch all my stitching mistakes and shortcuts.  *gulp*  Worth it for the great photos.  See the hot pink and coral in the fabric?

Have you been struck with inspiration while sewing?  Do you get inspired by movies or tv shows?  Did you realize that this is my 6th Pendrell blouse?  Talk about Sewaholic.

P.S. Thank you all for your awesome comments on my last post!  You have all given me a lot to think about in buying a new sewing machine.