Blouse 106 Burdastyle 2 2011

My latest sewing make - a basic knit blouse. The pattern is blouse 106 from an old Burdastyle issue - number 2 for 2011. The fabric is very soft and stretchy viscose knit in a quite busy print, which I like.

I made size 36 with very minor modifications - I shortened the front and the back by 1 cm above the armholes and 1 cm above the waist and I didn't add any seam allowances for the hems of the body and the sleeves, which I hemmed by 4.5 cm.

I added fusible to the shoulders to stabilize them against stretching and I widened the neck by 1 cm. I like it very much as it is now.

I hemmed the body and the sleeves using double needle. As I couldn't find a double needle for stretch fabric, I used a woven fabric double needle, but stabilized the hem with paper fusible, which I afterwards carefully removed. It worked quite well, but was a lot of trouble. I plan to order a double needle for knits on amazon, but perhaps after all the coronavirus crisis is over.

I'm very happy with the fit of the blouse, though next time I might try the size 34 sleeves with size 36 body, as the sleeves are a tiny bit wide now.
I have more than a meter left of the fabric, so I'll be sewing with it soon again, probably a sleeveless summer dress (I have the Laundry Day Tee in mind, it's sleeveless dress version).

2011 in Finished Objects

As I look back, it seems I've done quite a lot of knitting in 2011 - 40 (forty!) finished objects - more than 15 km of yarn! I end the year with three WIPs: an almost done red sweater (it was done actually, but I didn't like the sleeves and I'm redoing them now), a ribbed man's sweater, which I've put aside and feel no desire to finish and a crocheted cardigan, which is totally frozen as of present.

I did a lot of hats in 2011 - some were and are still worn a lot, others were complete failures. I love hats and I plan to knit many more. But nobody needs that many hats, so I'm going to unravel at least 3 or 4 of the 2011 hats to reuse the yarn in a new style and pattern.


I did a lot of summer sweaters too - though I like them, they were not worn that much. I found out that of my knitted garments I much prefer the cardigans, so I'm planning a few cotton and wool cardigans for 2012.


And there were some other small things, holiday knitting and other accessories. Of these bags and pouches are practical and maybe I might knit or crochet a bag next year, I also might try socks and probably a shawl: