Panel Sorbetto Blouse

This is my latest version of the Sorbetto blouse. I am off on holiday next Saturday for a week to Pisa, Italy and then to Nice, France. I am only taking hand luggage, as i refuse to pay stupid prices for cheeked in luggage. Therefore, i am going to have to pack lightly, so this Sorbetto blouse and the Floaty Sorbetto Blouse, will mean that i have at least two light weight tops. 

The Sorbetto blouse is a free pattern available form Colette Patterns you can find it on there blog. I cut a size 6, i found this sizing a bit strange. I measure 34" at bust but i had to cut for a 36", and even now i could probably get away with larger. The changes i made to the original pattern were, that i inverted the pleat at the front, lengthened the hem and i added a panel at the front. 

I bought the fabric at my favorite shopping haunt, Birmingham's Rag Market. I can not remember how much i paid, but it was not much. I am a cheapskate:) I was so cheap i only bought the minimum amount that i though i would need do the job and grossly underestimated it. So i added the panel in the front. The panel fabric was left over from one of my first sewing projects last year. I actually thinks it looks better like this. 

Both fabrics were impossible to press as they melted before the iron was hot enough to crease them. This means that i don't have the neat polished look that i would like, but it still looks good. I remember when i first took an iron to the patterned one last year, i lost huge amounts of the material before the iron even touched it. I've been very wary ever since, testing each bit of fabric before pressing. 

I did french seams on this top for the first time, instead of my usual plain seams, which is why there are pictures of the inside of my Sorbetto. It looks and feels so much neater. This is something i am going to keep doing in the future, because it does make your clothes feel that much more high quality, even if you are buying the cheep fabric. It also mean that my sewing is moving on, and i am learning new stuff.

I now only have a few days left before i am off on holiday and they are all work days. I really need to do my laundry and clean my flat so i have somewhere reasonably clean to come back to. But i am also very tempted to see if i can make another Sorbetto before my flight leaves on Saturday. We'll see, the fabric washed and ready to go.