MeMadeMay 2019 day 24

“MeMadeMay (2019) day 24. This is the third garment I’ve completed for myself this month, which has to be some kind of land speed record for me. This is the Style Arc Dimity blouse, which is like the only modern pattern I’ve ever used, and the only indie pattern I’ve ever used. I was fit-testing the pattern for a client, and decided to make one for me while I’m at it. The fabric for this is a really awful possibly rayon, possibly acetate (very remotely possibly silk, it does have that dry feel and water spots like a motherf***er) from my stash.”

Ahh, back in the days that I would still sew for other people. I actually really liked this particular client, I did vastly under price my work, but she had some very fun ideas and a whole heap of indie patterns that I had never been exposed to before. Basically, she had bought a ton of fun fabrics and patterns with the idea that she would refresh her own wardrobe, but realized that the actual sewing part of that wasn’t going to make her short list of priorities any time soon, and so she reached out to a friend of mine, who then reached out to me. I made a number of garments for her, but we ended up losing touch during the pandemic, especially since she was a healthcare worker, and my partner is immune-compromised, so it sort of became impossible for us to even physically meet up to exchange things.

The fabric for this particular piece actually came from the Textile Discount Outlet (2121 W. 21st!) and was some kind of mystery fabric. I was never quite sure if it was silk or not, as it had a very dry hand, but also felt sort of… artificial, if that makes sense. Anyway, I did kind of hate this blouse, but not because of the pattern. Said client and I were approximately a half-size different, so using patterns in her size ultimately meant it was just a hair too small for me. But it served a purpose, because I really don’t use modern patterns at all, and I wasn’t sure how much ease there was going to be when I made it up the first time. I didn’t want her to be swimming in her version, so I decided to test it on myself first.

This piece did end up being a casualty of my persistent closet clean outs at some point.