In which PhysicsGirl finally sews a Marfy blouse

Behold, I have finally officially taken part in a sewalong. On time and everything. What's more, I finally sewed up the red and white Marfy blouse I've been planning since last summer. No doubt I shall make up for it by posting this in a timey-wimey fashion.

I followed the instructions from the Marfy 1913 sewalong at A Challenging Sew (note that part 2b, which deals with adding sleeves, and part 6, which is about hems and closures, are tagged separately). The sew-along is particularly helpful because the Marfy instructions are minimal. And by minimal I mean practically non-existent.

As recommended, I made a muslin. This is unlike me and might have meant that I was turning a corner, sewing-wise, were it not that I made said muslin two years ago. At the time, it didn't look like I needed to make any adjustments, and frankly my body hasn't changed much, so... there should have been no problems, right?

Oh, don't be ridiculous. I forgot to write "ADD SEAM ALLOWANCES YOU DOPE" on the pattern, so I cut this lady with no seam allowances. Fortunately, she's a bit blousey and I didn't miss the extra width... much.


I sewed French seams on the sides, a turn-and-turn-and stitch hem, and super-narrow rolled hems at the arms.
The collar isn't as deep as it should be, but we (we = the DC + I) didn't think I needed to recut it. I sewed that part by hand, as recommended, as close to the edge as I could get. I didn't bother to reinforce the collar since it is so narrow and the silk is so light. For a closure, I made a lovely bias loop and I just happened to have this perfect polkadot-sized button.



Sadly, problems arose after a day's wear -- and of course I chose to wear this summery blouse the day we had a major snowfall. Anyway, I didn't notice this until I looked at the pictures, but the collar stretched unattractively at the back and the slash is gaping as a result of being pulled up. I am wondering if part of this is because the collar is sitting lower than it should be due to my seam allowance booboo.


It fits perfectly around my neck, but clearly got pulled out of whack. To fix it, I will *sigh* unpick my careful hand-stitching, lengthen the collar a tad, reinforce the edges with some silk organza, and move the button and loop to the bottom of the collar. I didn't think I needed a broad-back adjustment with this blouse, but that gaping slash concerns me. I'll try the collar fix out to see if it resolves all issues before committing to the giraffe print version.

The other problem is that I went with the fabulous (and low-work) couture finish for the slash edges. It amounts to turning under twice and pressing and it shouldn't move. Except mine did, and the second fold didn't stay folded. I don't know if this was a result of the collar stretching issues, so I'll re-press it and see how it goes after I fix the collar.

Despite the collar and back issues, I quite like the top. It's a sophisticated blouse that can work year-round, because I am a fan of cardigans, but the silk is so light I think it will be better as a late spring/summer top. That's good, because I'm so annoyed it's fallen into UFO territory I frankly don't want to take the time to fix it right now. I will be less annoyed closer to May. Add it to the Bookcase of Shame.

Speaking of which... Hey, you sewed something new! (I hear you cry) That must mean you took care of the UFOs on the Bookcase of Shame, right? Right?

...

Not as such. Shhh. Don't tell the DC. Go look at the the rest of the sewcialists polka dots.