Mila shirt from Itch to Stitch

If I have to classify my sewing style, it is Kids Clothes from jersey. Due to the stretchiness of jersey, clothes from knit fabric are forgiving. I have been sewing actively for a bit over two years, so I feel I now really should move into the scary area of woven woman's clothes. When Itch To Stitch put on her testers call for this shirt, I bravely waived a digital arm and hoped for the best. Besides my slight fear of woven patterns for woman, I have a full bust compared to the rest of my body (although the rest has been catching up the last years) so I never found a retail blouse that fitted well.

Kennis, the designer from Itch to Stitch is a perfectionist so after the first round, we did a second testing round to make the shirt really perfect. I will start this post with photos of the second blouse I made and end with the first one, which I adjusted to be very fitted.

The Mila shirt is a Boyfriend shirt. A loose woven blouse with button-down placket, optional sleeve tabs and pocket, and two collar options. What I love the most about the Itch to Stitch patterns is that they regularly come in different cup sizes and so does this blouse. No full bust correction necessary, just cut the right part of the pattern.

Kennis encouraged us to use plaid flannel, but I didn't own any. I did have a shirt from my husband on the upcycle pile though, perfect for a Boyfriend shirt, am I right? I had to make a few (almost) invisible seams to be able to cut all the required pieces but you know I like that extra challenge. You probably would not have noticed the distortion in the pattern (two times a wide row next to each other) on the front if I would have not have mentioned it.

I combined the fabric from the upcycled shirt, with a uni Soft Cactus fabric. I really didn't have enough fabric to hem the blouse the regular way, so I used a bias at the bottom hem, I really like the little contrast. I feel it makes it a bit more feminine. You can wear the blouse with the sleeves rolled up or down, so it is good for all seasons. The fit of the blouse is great, due to the gathers and the shoulders my bust fits perfectly.

The first version of this blouse is made from Soft Cactus fabric only. When the new fabric line released I immediately bought two meter from this one, to be used on a garment for me. This first version of the pattern was a bit wider than the final pattern and I decided to tweak the finished blouse by adding figure seams from just below the bust down to the bottom hem. I had seen the same seams on a blouse that a colleague wore and I liked the look a lot. I really like how it turned out.

The thing I didn't realize when I picked my fabric, is that the Soft Cactus fabric is white on the inside and that that shows at the collar. This is something to keep in mind when are choosing your fabric, but you can solve the issue by adding a facing there.

Kennis showed us a picture that inspired her to design this blouse and it was of a model looking lush in the camera after probably a wild night. I tried to go for the same vibe, hope you got it ;)

You can buy the Mila blouse now as part of the Indiesew Winter collection, check out the full package here. On Monday, next week the pattern will also be available from the Itch to Stitch website. Kennis will be releasing three pattern that day and because I was allowed to test them all, I will show the rest next week.

I love to hear what you think of my creations. Feel free to leave a comment in the language you prefer (although Google translate might have to assist me if you choose something different than English, German, Dutch or Hungarian).