Blue Rhapsody with Butterflies

Rhapsody is definitely my most beloved blouse pattern and I have used it more than a dozen of times (this is my 15th Rhapsody, to be precise!), making blouses for myself and Gaby, and even one for my mother.

Despite the fact, that I have a number of them, I have a favourite, which I wear in the summer more than any other. It is the one with 3/4 bishop sleeves with ruffles and I've been planning a repeat ever since.

I had a piece of fabric left from the georgette with butterflies - I have a sleeveless dress out of this fabric and a long sleeve shirt with a bow collar (which I have never worn :( ), and I though I could make a sleeveless Rhapsody out of the remnants. 

But then, with a bit of sacrifice on the length - I love the shorter length! - and some shenanigans with the sleeve ruffles - they were cut separately and added to the sleeves, hiding the seam in the elastic, I managed to get a 3/4 sleeved Rhapsody and I am ecstatic! Now I am waiting for the warm weather to add it to my staple spring and summer wardrobe.

Apart from shortening the blouse, I made almost no mods to the pattern in addition to my usual mods. All the seams are french seams, including the seams, attaching the sleeves to the body and I used the burrito method for the yoke. However, I did try something new - I stay-stitched and added fusible to the curved edges - sleeve openings and neckline. The fusible is a step I skipped previously and for good reason - stay-stitching is plenty enough for stabilizing these seams, the fusible made the seams too stiff and I wouldn't recommend it for delicate fabric as this thin georgette.

Pattern: Rhapsody by Love Notions 

Size: XS, modified

Fabric: Polyester Georgette, 1 m

Time to make: 3 days

I finished the blouse more than a month ago, we took the pictures three weeks ago, but I've been so busy with work and prepping the balconies for the spring, that I've had almost no time for blogging. Meanwhile I finished sewing three more items, now I  need to photograph and post about them. Stay tuned :)

Flower Power

I was inspired by Gaby's pink sleeveless blouse and decided to make a similar one for myself. More so, that I have so many pieces of fabric in my fabric drawer, that I have to sew some day.

This particular georgette was purchased last year for Gaby, but she thought it didn't suit her completion, so I left it for myself. While she is "winter", I am definitely "warm autumn" and all of these warm colors are right up my alley. 

The pattern is again Burda 6840, reduced to size 34 and shortened by 7 cm, that is additional 2 cm, compared to Gaby's pink blouse. I like the shortening, but next time I might move the shortening lines above and below the waist and leave the height above the armscye. 

 

Pattern: Burda 6840

Size: 34, modified, shortened by 7 cm

Fabric: polyester georgette

Time to make: five days

The pattern has its own long sleeves, but I wanted flared sleeves, so I changed them based on my Purple Burda Blouse 108 12/2023. Initially I planned to add an elastic at the end of the sleeves, but it somehow cheapened the look of the blouse for me. Then I thought of adding the elastic in a tunnel some 4-5 cm above the hem - I love such sleeves. I might still do it, but as I already have a blouse with such sleeves, in the end I though it might be cool just to leave the sleeves wide and bell-shaped and see how I felt about them - I can always add the elastic later.

Among the minor modifications I added to the pattern is again the collar, which I made angular and not rounded, as in the pattern - somehow I find the angular look better.

The flared sleeves in combination with my flared jeans give a very flower power vibe, which I adore :)

Pink Sleeveless Shirt for Gaby

This is the last item I made for Gaby in April. The shirt was kind of an afterthought after  had finished with the jeans. I bought the fabric last summer, but let it marinate in my fabrics drawer with a lot of other fabric pieces - yes, these tend to increase faster than I manage to sew them, I'm sure it's a tendency known to all seamstresses worldwide :)

I'm not sure what type of fabric it is, but it is something like gauze - fairly loosely woven and slightly transparent, with tweed like insertions of colorful threads. The threads run horizontally, but I though the vertical striping made more sense, so I cut the fabric across the grain. 

I've made this pattern before in red viscose and I knew it fit Gaby well. The original pattern starts from size 36, but I had drawn the 34 size myself, based on the proportions of the given sizes. Cutting the shirt this time was super easy, as I already had the pattern pieces prepared.

I played a little with the stripes, as one does, cutting the yoke so, that the stripes run horizontally. All of the seams are french seams and the yoke seams are enclosed, using the burrito method.

As the main fabric is very loose weaved and frays easily, I chose to use some complementary viscose for the inside of the armhole openings.

Pattern: Burda 6840

Size: 34, modified, shortened by 5 cm

Fabric: cotton\polyester gauze

Time to make: two days

I was very happy to find the perfect colour buttons, although they could have been a tad smaller

The blouse in the photos is still unhemmed, I hemmed it after Gaby tried it on. She liked the length I had cut, so I just folded the curved end twice by 1 cm and sewed it.

Tropical Rhapsody

After I made the Burda blouse with butterfly sleeves, I was left with quite a substantial piece of fabric, so of course, I made another blouse.

My initial idea was to make it a sleeveless top, however, my piece of fabric was kind of wide but short, so it had to be a top with an yoke. 

And when it comes to tops with yokes, there's only one true-and-tried yoked blouse for me - Rhapsody. For this iteration of the pattern I had to make quite a few adjustments to fit it into the piece of fabric - I raised the cut on the back by 5 cm, thus shortening the yoke, I additionally shortened the yoke but 3 cm (so a total of 8 cm), I also shortened the front and back pieces a bit - in other words I used up the entire piece of fabric and modified my pattern pieces to fit in it.

After the front and the back were assembled together with the double yoke, I tried it on and found it a bit too simple, so I decided to add a henley opening. True, it was a whole day of additional work, but I'm happy with that look, I find it much more interesting than a plain round neckline. There's more to be desired from my execution of the henley, I did try my best, basted everything in place, etc. and still it is not perfect to my satisfaction, but for this attempt it will have to do. I have definitely made some mental notes for my next henley. 

Of course, my buttonholes are real operational holes :)

 

Pattern: Rhapsody by Love Notions 

Size: XS, modified

Fabric: cotton viscose knit

Time to make: 5 days

Green Rhapsody

About two years ago I was so inspired by a Youtube tutorial pattern for a simple peasant blouse, that I cut into one of my viscose fabrics and tried to make it. The pattern - four rectangles, was too simple to be true and so the blouse was a failure. However, it did teach me a very neat trick for making self-folding tunnels for inserting elastic, which I have used several times afterwards, so it was not a complete waste of time.

As this chartreuse green is very much one of my most favourite colors, I kept the blouse with the intention somehow to repair it. Last week I took it out of its bag, together with the remaining rather large piece of fabric and decided to keep the sleeves and add a Rhapsody blouse to them, cut out of the remaining fabric.

The weather in Sofia last Friday was very inappropriate for a light viscose blouse, but I had the spare time, snow was forecast for the next day, so we took a couple of pictures of my new Rhapsody in the near park. The wide bishop sleeves of the Rhapsody got awfully crinkled in the sleeves of my jacket and the entire photosession is a very unprofessional presentation of the blouse, but I don't think there will be better photos any time soon, so I decided to publish it, despite the sorry state of the sleeves.

Pattern: Rhapsody by Love Notions 

Size: XS, modified

Fabric: viscose

Time to make: 4 days

Now I am waiting for spring to wear my new green blouse.

Sleeveless Rhapsody

I know, Rhapsody again, boring...

I didn't really expect to be making another Rhapsody so soon, but this summer there are several blouses I wear almost all the time and two of them are my favourite Rhapsodies - a sleeveless one out of viscose knit and my latest puff-sleeve georgette Rhapsody. 

It just turns out, that this is the style of blouse I find most flattering and easy to wear, this year - maybe I'll change my mind next year; and I can't get enough of these. I'm planning yet another one, but with some heavy modifications - I want to add a collar and buttons and turn it into a shirt with an yoke, but we'll see about that.

Pattern: Rhapsody by Love Notions 

Size: XS, modified

Fabric: Cotton Georgette, 1 m

Time to make: one week

I have almost nothing to write about this Rhapsody, as I made it very much following my usual modifications - shortened body and yoke. The only super minor novelty - I replaced the pleat at the back with some gathering. The yoke is double, as per pattern, all seams are french seams and the neckline and arm openings are finished with self-made bias band.

Rhapsody für Mich

Yep, I made another Rhapsody, my tenth. For myself, finally :)

This time I chose polyester georgette, mostly because I loved the print and I hoped for easier care as far as washing and ironing went. To some disappointment, this fabric, though artificial, still wrinkles, so here go my no ironing hopes :)

Pattern: Rhapsody by Love Notions 

Size: XS, modified

Fabric: Polyester Georgette, 1 m

Time to make: 2 days

My modifications - I used my true and tried shortened pattern - 2 cm above the waist and 2 cm below the waist. I also introduced two more shortenings, which proved unnecessary, when using woven fabric - I shortened the yoke by 2 cm and respectively I narrowed the sleeve by 2 cm. As the blouse is designed to be wide and with quite a lot of positive ease, it is still well fitting, but I found I actually preferred it with the original ease, so next time I'm using woven fabrics, I'll stick to the original lengths and widths.

I made the sleeves 3/4 bishop length, with added 5+2 cm length for a ruffle after the inserted elastic. Next time I think I could make the ruffle 7 cm and add length below the elbow, so some 12 cm additional length would be recommendable for this style of sleeve I have in mind.

As always when I sew these blouses from woven fabrics, all of my seams are narrow french seams and my yoke is double, using the burrito method.

I debated with myself whether to add the ties or not, but in the end I decided ties give this style of blouse a more delicate and feminine look, which I like, so the neck is finished with self-made bias tape ties.

Will there be other Rhapsodies - yes! I'm still finding this pattern my most favourite of all woven fabric spring/summer blouses and I have quite a lot of ideas for other modifications to explore :)

Henley Rhapsody

An update with a modeled picture:

Another quick blouse I made for Gaby - a knit Rhapsody with a Henley opening. This is my fifth Rhapsody blouse for Gaby and my ninth Rhapsody overall - and definitely not the last.

There are patterns, which I love to repeat, adding various modifications. I made a small collage of all of my Rhapsody blouses so far and you can see they are more or less the same and still quite different - long, 3/4, short sleeves or sleeveless; knit or woven fabrics; ties, henley, round neck or button plackets. All of these elements drastically change the style of the blouse and allow me to improvise and experiment.

To make the Henley opening, I raised the neckline and then drew a slightly curved triangle opening towards the center line. Because the fabric is busy enough, I chose fairly discrete and invisible buttons. Although the buttons are more decorative than functional, as the opening is low enough, I still made them operative, with the respective buttonholes. It must be some form of an OCD, but I can't make myself add false buttons, without buttonholes.

Pattern: Rhapsody by Love Notions 

Size: XS, modified

Fabric: viscose knit

Time to make: 2 days

Apart from the obvious modification of the front, I also shortened the blouse by 2 cm above and below the waist, I narrowed the sleeves by 3 cm and I shortened the yoke by 3 cm. I also made the yoke single layer - a double layer seemed redundant for a knit blouse, sewn mainly on the overlocker. 

The sleeves are bishop sleeves, fairly wide and gathered with an inserted elastic and the length is just below the elbow.

The overall blouse is light, spring/summer knit blouse, very easy to wear over jeans and sports shoes, which however could be dressed up with a pair of black trousers and pumps.