Tea Time

I finally finished my Sencha blouse!  And I love it so much, I couldn't even wait to take modeled pictures.  I had to show it off right now!

front

back

The fabric is more of the $3 per yard cotton voile I bought at Vogue over the summer.  I bought 2 yards just because I liked the print, but didn't really have any idea what I'd do with it.  After thinking it over for a while, I decided to try it out with the Sencha.  It is quite sheer, and the print is (I think) very dark blue, almost black, with the lighter tones being more blue-grey.

I made version two, which has tucks at the neckline (I know they are hard to see in the photos).  This version is meant to button up the back, but when I got the thing assembled, I decided to do the closure with snaps instead, because I really liked how the pattern lined up at the back and didn't want to break the continuity.  It meant a lot more work, but I'm happy I did it that way.

I have to admit that I didn't make a muslin for this one, and I was sweating it for a while, but it turned out OK.  I had read that the neckline was uncomfortably tight, but I didn't really think this would apply to me; I have a pretty skinny neck.  But as I was sewing and trying it on, I started to get worried.  Once the thing was finished though, it was fine - whew!  It is a high neckline, but it works on me.  However, I would think that for anyone with a normal-sized neck, some adjustments would be necessary.

There is a fair amount of hand-sewing on this one, and I added even more.  The facings for the cap sleeves and button plackets are hand-stitched to the body, but I also hand-stitched the hem, just because I really like the hand-made, almost couture look of it.  (Am I kidding myself?)  Thankfully, I really enjoy hand stitching:

tiny little catch-stitching

There are a couple things I'd do differently next time - and I would like to do this one again.  I forgot all about finishing the seams until it was too late (duh) and had to go back and very carefully cut the exposed bits with my pinking shears.


And next time, I'll make my markings on the wrong side of the fabric (double duh) - the difference between the right and wrong sides of this one are so minute, I ended up making all my markings (in blue chalk, no less) on the right side.  That made it a lot more difficult to line things up for the tucks, and a couple of them are kind of wonky.  On this one I don't think it will show too much - this fabric is going to wrinkle like crazy within about a minute of putting on the blouse.

If any of you have made a Sencha, I'd be very interested to know how the neck worked for you.  I looked for references to it, but didn't come up with much other that the post I linked above.