Howdy friends!
I’m happy to share one of my favorite projects of 2017! Yeah, I’m a bit behind on blogging, but slowly and surely I will get the projects that I’ve been making up on my blog. I completed this blouse about 3 months ago, with about a month of embroidery on it. Granted, I didn’t work on this continuously — just when I was doing “nothing”, like on long drives or whilst watching TV, because I always have to be doing something with my hands.
*Portions of this post originally appeared on the Cali Fabrics blog*
I love to take plain fabrics and transform them into something unique. This blouse was just a simple white cotton lawn before I embroidered it. Now, it’s a bespoke beauty showcasing my love of our state flower — the California Poppy. For this project, I used a vintage 1949 McCall’s pattern. First, I re-sized the pattern to fit me using the slash and spread grading method and then transferred the embroidery design to the pieces before I started working on them.
Ordinarily, I would have chosen a poppy color from the designs on the pattern envelope, but after seeing some beautiful custom California Poppy chainstitch embroidery by Tina Vines, I was inspired to turn the poppies into the golden colors of our native wildflower.
Embroidering this piece was actually a “fast” project with the satin stitches and my heavy handed embroidery. It took me a little over a month, but I only worked on it for a few hours a week. It took me much longer to embroider my past pieces which feature freehand embroidery designs.
After I finished embroidering the yoke and sleeve pieces, I sewed the blouse together, which was the easiest task of all! I used some vintage cotton lace on the neckline and made self fabric sleeve bands for the sleeve hems. As it’s lawn it has French seams on the inside.
Generally, I would think of a plain white fabric like this lawn as a lining for another garment as I’m very into colors. But when you add embroidery, a solid fabric becomes a canvas for a one-of-a-kind wearable masterpiece.
I’m insanely happy how the embroidery turned out. I’m also happy that it didn’t take me months to do like some of my past embroidery projects.
I generally like to make outfits when I sew separates, so I refashioned this skirt from a dress that I never wear and yet love the fabric. This skirt used to be a Colette Eclair dress, but I never wear strapless dresses, so I took it apart and made a skirt.
This skirt was a bit more work than just removing the bodice and adding a waistband. I took the whole thing apart, including the skirt gores and removed the original zipper. The Eclair skirt was too short for my tastes, so I took the big sash from that dress apart and added a hem band for extra length. I was also able to cut a waistband out of it. I then sewed the skirt gores back together, gathered the skirt, added the waistband and sewed in an invisible zip. So basically it’s a gored dirndl skirt. The waistband is a little bit too big, so I still need to take it in.
I’m really looking forward to wearing both of these pieces with other garments. Right now, I’m dreaming about wearing this blouse in warmer weather with the 40’s jeans I just made (those jeans will be my next post!).
It’s just too bad that there weren’t any California poppies blooming when I finished this. 🙂
Note: I received the fabric for this blouse as a contributor for the Cali Fabrics blog. These are my honest thoughts and opinions.
Happy Sewing!
- Blouse: Vintage McCall 1385 in white cotton lawn with hand embroidery, made by me
- Skirt: re-purposed gored and gathered skirt in green cotton damask, made by me
- Shoes: Swedish Hasbeens
- Earrings: Vintage 1940’s from my grandma’s jewelry box
- Turquoise bracelet: Vintage 1940’s from my grandma’s jewelry box
- Silver engraved bracelet: Four Corners
- Lipstick: Besame 1931 Carmine (affiliate link)
Beautiful! The embroidery really makes your blouse special.
That embroidery is incredible! So beautiful. It makes a lovely top even more special.
Beautiful work! This inspires me to make the embroidered peasant blouse of my dreams.
Absolutely stunning. A masterpiece of a blouse.
Thank you! I am thrilled with how it turned out!
So gorgeous and inspiring!
Thank you, Sandra! 🙂
Absolutely stunning outfit. The embroidery on your blouse is gorgeous. I love the colour of thread that you chose for the Californian Poppies. We get them growing wild here a lot too and they are always so cheerful.Looking fabulous. Xx
Thank you!!! I’m happy that I chose those poppies, too, although I might make them in red someday. That’s interesting that they’re growing in other parts of the world!
I, too, love our state flower and they are perfect on this blouse. What a successful project! I will have to think about some similar thing for my closet this year.
Yes, it was the perfect choice for this! I’ve been wanting something with CA poppies on it, so this fits the bill.
I’m glad you went with the orange california poppies.
Me, too! I can’t wait to wear this when it gets warmer.
Such a beautiful blouse! I’ve been having another embroidered blouse on my future projects list for a while but it just didn’t tick. Seeing your embroidery, and how you adapted to the local flowers is so inspiring.
Thanks! I know that I wouldn’t have thought of it if I didn’t find this embroidery pattern. Sometimes it takes something like that for inspiration. 🙂
Gorgeous! And I have a turquoise ring from my mother that looks just like your bracelet.
Thanks, Debbie! I think there’s some other turquoise jewelry in my grandma’s boxes, too, but not sure if there’s a ring. 🙂
Absolutely stunning! Worth every minute of your time embroidering! Thank You for sharing! I so enjoy hand sewing more than machine sewing.
Thank you! Yes, it was definitely worth my time and I enjoy doing it. 🙂
I love it!! You’re amazing. 😊
Thanks, Cristina! It’s easier than it looks. 🙂
It is absolutely a work of art. I love the embroidered poppies.
Thanks, Deborah! Embroidery certainly lets us show off our creative side, even when we’re using a pattern. 🙂
You should be “insanely happy” about how this blouse turned out. It is fabulous!
I truly am! It will be certainly be wonderful to wear once it gets warm. 🙂
I’m so in love with this blouse and I think the California poppy colour was a great choice. When I get back to sewing for myself I’m now very inspired to try and add some embroidery.
Thanks, Tanith! You should definitely do some embroidery! It’s a nice mobile craft.
Gorgeous! You are such an inspiration!
Thanks, Angela! 🙂
Tanya, stunning outfit again! 🙂
I often add embroidery to items I make or buy. Being seriously disabled sadly making, sometimes has to go by the wayside for not really the right size/shape but close enough ready made clothes. But a little embroidery personalises 🙂
I love vintage clothes but had never considered the possibility of being able to wear them being “curvy” but from the wonderful outfits I see you in I’m definitely inspired to try.
I’ve always been a modest dresser and these styles are to me just so utterly feminine and as my late SO said, he found the sight of bare skin (no matter the physical size of the female) much less alluring than the hint of what lay under a pretty, modest dress.
Thank you for being such an inspiration to both sewers and curvaceous women.
Now I’m going to work out how to adapt a vintage dress to life in a power wheelchair 🙂
I grow Californian Poppies along side my Opium and native UK ones, so much gorgeous colour.
Thanks so much, Lucy! Embroidery really does personalize a garment, whether you made it or not. I’ve had plans to embroider a merino wool cardigan and perhaps should get on with making that before it gets warm. Vintage styles often look better IMO than some modern ones. I hope you can wear the vintage dress of your dreams, too. 🙂
What a great project, and it turned out so well! The skirt is great with it–I love that you remake unwanted things into wanted and loved items.
I remember that style of earring, the articulated little metal fishies…maybe I have some that also were graduated in size and the smaller went into the larger and there were a few of them all together…hmm, now I have to look for those, which is easier said than done since we only moved in six months ago and the place looks like a cross between a storage unit and a rummage sale!
Thank you! I almost got rid of the green dress that the skirt came from, but I just loved that fabric too much.
I’m glad you reminded me what that style of earring is called. I should probably clean those and see if they brighten up. I never thought about wearing my grandma’s clip-on earrings as my ears are pierced, but I’ve been finding a new love for them.
I think it’s better to have clip ons and pierced ears, since you can have both. I only had one ear pierced and that was enough for me, so I can only use pierced in one ear. You can always use clipons like they used to, on collars or shoes or whatever too.
I am unsure about some of the metals in old jewelry, and have made the mistake of scrubbing silverplate off of otherwise base- metal pieces, so good luck and be cautious. I have had jeweler friends swear that baking soda and water will clean most, even cameos etc., without harm to them–
Absolutely lovely, you are so talented
Thank you! 🙂
Wow! Did you use regular embroidery floss? Did you use all six strands? I love everything about your outfit. I can’t wait for the ’40s jeans.
Thanks, Cindy! Yes, it’s regular DMC floss. I used all of it as I like a heavy hand. 🙂
Did you use any sort of stabilizer or backing when you did the embroidery? It’s such a lovely shirt!
Thanks! No stabilizer needed.