For my first Me-Made-March outfit, I chose my new Pendrell blouse. 

This is my second sewing review of the Pendrell Blouse View A. The first one is here.

Pattern: Sewaholic 1001 Pendrell Blouse View A

Fabric: Silk from Tessuti. I'm not well-versed in silk varieties, but this is my first time working with silk.

Date first worn: 1 March 2011 

Wear again? Yes. It's so comfy!

Sew again? Yes, but other views.

Recommended? Very.

Sizing and alterations: I cut the size 2 at the neck, shoulder, armhole and hips, then size 4 at the bust and waist. I shortened it by about 4 inches.

Fabric prep: Since I don't have anything dry cleaned, I hand washed the silk fabric which is probably why it looks a bit faded.  

Cutting: I tried my fancy pair of scissors and it was crap. My back was killing me from laying and cutting fabric on the floor and the cut turn out uneven despite my  meticulous attention to detail. So I did something that every sewing book seems to warn against I moved my fabric. First, I quickly cut around the pattern piece while it's on the floor. The, I picked up the fabric piece and brought to the table where kept the excess fabric and my scissors just off the edge of table and cut the excess fabric. That worked quite. I also tried rotary cutting, and that also worked brilliantly. And my back was much happier (though not as happy as it would be if I had a cutting height table.

I did have a problem with bias pieces. It was a wee bit off, thus the puckers on neckline. Though the armholes turned out well.

Marking: I marked the pleats on the wrong side of the fabric, so that turned out to be useless when I folded the sleeves wrong sides together. So I just snipped the pleat markings and that turned out okay. I had to undo it a bit to make pleats more symmetrical.

Instructions: I pretty much knew what the steps were. Though I did refer to the printed and sew along instructions at the trickier steps.

Sewing: When I took off on my own in what I thought were shortcuts, it made it harder to do the other bits. Like when I did the princess seams before the neckline, it was doable, just a tad harder with extra fabric to maneuver. So best to follow the instructions, I think.

I did not have as much problems sewing with silk as I feared. Just the usual issues that I encounter with any fabric.

Now that I've worn it, I think I should press the princess seams more as they are not lying flat.

Conclusion: Despite all the new glitches, I love sewing and wearing this top and will be making the other views soon!

Notes for future sewing:

• Test fabric drape.
• Figure out a better way of cutting fabric.
• New way of bias binding armholes and neckline.
• Cut only one layer of fabric for the neck binding.

Soundtrack: Fade Into You by Mazzy Star