Beaucoup des volants!

Bonjour mes amies!

Here I am with two new and French blouses, La Brune from Dephine et Morissette and the Suzon Shirt from Republique du Chiffon. I'm very into the ruffles that are springing up everywhere, and was excited to have a go with both these lovely patterns.

First up is the Suzon. I've seen lots of beautiful versions of these on people's blogs (Anne-Charlotte's one in particular). I used up some stash Robert Kaufman chambray I had for this, and made self-covered buttons,  which were fiddly but fun. I didn't have enough fabric to make the ruffle, but I think the contrast ended up quite nice. This is a size 38 with no alterations - I like the fit, though I wonder if I could go one smaller...

I love this pattern, and see more in my future!

La Brune is a simpler blouse, with two darts into which you insert the ruffles/volants (Google translate kept giving me versions of "steering wheel" for volants, helpful!)

I made up a size S with no alterations. I was planning sleeves, but didn't have enough of this cotton from The Cloth House to manage it. And actually I think it's pretty sweet without them anyway. Next time I'll take a 1.5cm wedge out of the shoulders, and stay stitch the neckline, as I think it bagged out a little.

I liked this fabric when I bought it, but feel it's still too much for me now. I've recently read a few other sewing bloggers saying that they are moving away from wacky prints - something I've started to feel the same about. When I first started sewing I bought quite a lot of jolly fabrics, and I'm still very attracted to them in the shops. But I just don't wear them - they don't suit me. From now on, I'm all about small small prints, and colours I actually wear - black, grey, cream and cornflower. With a bit of orange and red every now and then!

I feel excited to have realised this (again, maybe?), and to start making lots more things I'll hopefully actually wear.