Rainbow Glass Print & a 90s Blouse: A Literary Sewing Circle Project

I finished my blouse! For my second Literary Sewing Project for this round, I was very taken with an image in the book in which our narrator Violet visits an estate for sale, and finds 'the Rainbow Room'

There is a section of greenish-yellow Vaseline glass, one of pink and green Depression glass, marigold carnival glass, cranberry glass, a group of old cobalt-blue poison and perfume bottles and sun-tinted amethyst glass. Then across the windows at the front of the cottage, the ones facing the water, there is a huge collection of ruby glass.

The cobalt and ruby of this description made me think about a cotton fabric I've had for a very long time. I decided that a crisp summer blouse would be a perfect use for this fabric, although I waffled over which pattern to use for quite a while! I wanted something sleek, without fussy details, to suit this cotton. 

Looking through my recently purchased vintage patterns, I found this Simplicity 8964 pattern (c.1999) with the perfect blouse. Very straight lines to work with my quilting weight fabric, and just the right size to be able to fit onto the amount of fabric I had as well. 

I had to make a few fitting changes, but not that many. I lengthened the body of the blouse by one inch, and removed the shoulder pad allowance (1/2") That means I took 1/2" out of the shoulder seam at the outer edge, and a 1/2" wedge from the shoulder to the armscye notches. I also trimmed down the sleeve cap very marginally, about 1/8" between notches. I also added some width to the sleeve as I don't like tight sleeves. 

The pattern went together very well, although I did try it on right after sewing in the darts and shoulder seams -- I'm not always fond of back bodice darts, they often don't work for me with my short back and larger hip, and this time I didn't like them either! I considered narrowing them, but decided to just remove them and then I tried it on again and liked it fine so just left the back undarted. This didn't affect anything else because the back is simply turned up and hemmed, to meet the front facing. But...I probably should have made a bit of a swayback adjustment. Oh well!

I searched through my extensive button stash but only found one set of navy buttons in the right size. They are subtle and they work, although I don't really love them. They'll do for now! 

In the end, I do like this pattern a lot. And I'm pleased to have found a use for this fabric as a garment. I've had it for a long time; I picked it up while thrifting because it was pretty but wondered if I'd just have to use it for a craft project. I like it made up into this blouse and it definitely makes me think of our shared read this round!