The hot Australian summer inspired me to sew some sleeveless blouses. Let's ignore the fact that Autumn started about 2 weeks ago shall we?
It was time to try out the Sorbetto blouse by Colette Patterns. This pattern is free and has been around for quite a number of years so there are lots of examples around.
I like the simplicity and the fact that it can so easily be hacked and changed into something completely different.
I first made a quick muslin to check the fit. I made a size 6.
I added a lot of length because the design is quite short, and I really don't like short tops, the result of my lifelong frustration of not finding tops that are long enough.
The bust pleats were adjusted, I made the bottom a bit more curved and I lowered the armhole as some bloggers had mentioned it being a bit tight in that area.
That turned out to be true as I lowered the armhole even more for the final blouse.
Then I thought I would try something different and I added the simplest sleeves imaginable. Or at least I thought...
I cut 2 rectangles but was not quite sure how long to make them. I started googling for examples but could not work out the official name of such a sleeve. Is there one? If you know, please share!
I tried two different lengths, but could not decide which one was better.
The sleeves were a bit wavy as well. So Instagram to the rescue!
Someone suggested I try cutting the sleeves on the bias. So I did that and the sleeves behaved a bit better. By then I had decided on the length of the sleeves.
For the finish, I was going to put bias binding along the whole armhole as you do for the sleeveless version, but that would have meant a visible stitch line parallel to the sleeve seam. I was afraid this was going to ruin it all.
So instead, I finished the sleeve edge on the inside off with my overlocker and only finished the bottom of the armhole with bias binding. That worked out perfectly.
The back is a bit lower than I am used to as you can tell from the tan line!
The blouse took me longer to make than planned due to my indecisiveness and fixing fitting issues. But now that I have the pattern done, ready for me, I'll be making more for sure!
I'm really happy with the end result.
It's such a great basic, and I could easily turn this into a dress as well.
Here are some of the variations of the Sorbetto blouse for you to try:
Make a Sorbetto without a pleat
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Fabric used: 1 metre of Rayon from See You At Six
Pattern: Sorbetto blouse by Colette Patterns.