Hello, I’m Christine aka @gemini_stitchers on Instagram and @the_gemini_stitcher on Youtube. I’ve been sewing on and off virtually all my life and got back into dressmaking a couple of years ago.
I fell in love with the Liza Blouse by Viki Sews Patterns as soon as it was released, but struggled to find a suitable fabric to create the floaty effect I was looking for. The fabric needed to be structured enough to hold the pleat details but floaty enough to be able to gather at the yolks and cuffs.
Sew Me Sunshine came to the rescue and kindly gifted me some of their beautifully delicate White Cotton Dobby Fabric and with its light floaty feel and crisp cotton pressing capabilities it fit the bill perfectly. I was initially concerned the fabric wouldn’t be opaque enough, but with all the gathering details I needn’t have worried.
I used a lightweight woven iron on interfacing for the collar and cuffs and added 18 rouleau loops with small oval shaped white and gold buttons.
Viki Sews Patterns are sold in single sizes so I needed to be careful when deciding on the size, but on the plus side they provide you with 3 height options and being 5 foot small on a good day this came in very handy.
I would consider this pattern to be an intermediate to advanced sew and the main feature of the pattern I love is the pleat detail that runs across the front and back yolks and continues down the central section of the sleeves.
There aren’t many blouse patterns that are as stunning on the back as they are on the front, but The Liza Blouse is one of them.
The pattern has detailed instructions and I also found a sew along on Youtube which helped with the technique of creating the pleats and lining them all up.
This Cotton Dobby fabric is available in other colours and I have plans to make another one for the autumn in another colour.
You can find all of our cotton dobby fabrics here.
Find Christine on her instagram @gemini_stitchers
*Christine was provided the fabric of her choice free of charge for her blog post & also provided with a £50 voucher*