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 :)

Beige Rhapsody for Gaby

While March was the month I sewed for the boys, April was Gaby's month. As we were expecting her on the first days of May, I wanted to make her a few new things to take with her to Vienna. 

The first is a viscose blouse, yet another Rhapsody. I made the size xs, but without the shortenings I usually do, as I thought the full length would suit Gaby better. However, she is not a fan of long blouses, it turns out, so I had to shorten it by 5 cm. I should point out that I agree with her and the shorter length does suit her better.

I took the pictures a few days before her arrival. We had planned to make a quick photosession with all the things I made for her, but time flew so fast, that in the end we gave up the idea and I was left with only these pre-shortened not-modelled photos.

Pattern: Rhapsody by Love Notions 

Size: XS, modified

Fabric: viscose

Time to make: 6 days

I made the blouse, using my favourite version - the 3/4 bishop sleeve with the inserted elastic. I plan to make myself one of these too in a viscose or polyester crepe for the summer, if I can find some fabric that I like.

Although the colors of the viscose fabric are a bit bland, I think it suits Gaby well and she did wear it during her stay for a meeting with her uni friend.

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. 

Rhapsody with Fancy Sleeves

The last of my hand-made Christmas presents for family members - a Rhapsody Blouse for Gaby with some interesting fancy sleeves.

Of course, I finished it a few days before Christmas and it was among the wrapped presents under the Christmas tree, but we only managed to take a few pictures of it literally minutes before Gaby left back for Vienna.

The fabric is some polyester crepe, which I chose exclusively for its non wrinkle qualities. As much as I dislike polyester, lately I am beginning to appreciate the ITYs and the crepe fabrics for blouses and Gaby complained that she was frustrated with the always wrinkled viscose Rhapsodies I made for her last year.

The choice of the Rhapsody pattern was really a bit because of convenience - what I was actually interested in making were the sleeves with the double elastic. However, they needed a blouse to be part of, and as I have the Rhapsody already customized for Gaby's height and preferences, it became the body of the blouse. 

All of my seams are French seams, including the armhole seams. I added two centimeters to the neck opening to make it less gaping, shortened the body 2 cm above the waist and additionally shortened the length of the blouse below the waist (by 2 cm?).

Pattern: Rhapsody by Love Notions 

Size: XS, modified

Fabric: polyester crepe

Time to make: 3 days

Overall I am happy with the final result, I only wish the fabric wasn't so transparent; it did look a bit more substantial in the roll at the shop. I am definitely going to try this sleeve modification on the Rhapsody again, next time with longer sleeves.