Oakridge in Marsala

 As soon as Sewaholic Patterns Oakridge Blouse was released, I knew it would become part of my Sewaholic pattern collection.  It was released in the Southern Hemisphere summer so I waited for reviews to begin popping up.  To be fair, there really haven't been a lot for this pattern and I have no idea why.  I love the idea of a pussy bow blouse, but anything fussy and flouncy just isn't me, so the pared down tie and figure skimming fit of the Oakridge had my name written all over it.

When Sewaholic had their recent birthday sale, I knew the time was right.  I bought this pattern and a couple of others at a very affordable price in PDF format.

I cut the pattern to size 6 and graded to a size 4 at the hips.  I could have gone down to a size 2 but given the fabric I chose was quite sheer the extra volume would not detract from the shirts appearance.

The fabric I chose is a polyester chiffon from an op shop haul way back here.  The colour very conveniently is Pantone colour of the year for 2015, marsala.  It looks a little redder in the photos here because I have layered it with a bright red tank underneath.

Once again I prepared my flimsy chiffon with a soak in a gelatin bath.  I scaled down the recipe by half.  I used 1.4 tsp gelatin heated and added 1.5 litres of cold water.  This meant I could soak my fabric in a mixing bowl.  I did get some strange looks from my family during the process.  I think they thought I had completely lost it this time!  I then spun the fabric in the washing machine and line dried it in the sun.

The blouse came together quite quickly.  I French seamed all of the seams except the armhole and tie for durability.  This did cause me a little bit of angst when I realised I had stitched one sleeve inside out and I had to unpick two rows of tiny stitching on flimsy fabric but I managed and now you would never know.  Phew...crisis averted!

Once completed I then rewashed the blouse and dried as normal.  I really love everything about this blouse and am glad I waited for just the right project to use this fabric.  There will be another of these but I am not sure which fabric I will choose.  I currently have two contenders.

My one and only complaint is the sleeves are too long.  I had already removed around 5cm before cutting it out but could have removed another two....I know, t-rex arms!