I present to you the lovely Alanis blouse from Urban Fairy patterns. When Elsa contacted me to test her new pattern, I was immediately excited by her pattern offer.
Alanis is a lovely blouse that’s very feminine thanks to its bust gathers, its Lavallière collar, and its slightly puffed sleeves with stylish cuffs!
Of course, I first made a toile for testing and then went ahead without delay to sew a final version in a pretty Japanese striped cotton in peach and raspberry from my shop.
Alanis is available from size 32 to 52, enough to satisfy the widest range.
It is suitable for:
- bust measurement between 76 and 120cm
- waist measurement between 56 and 100cm
- hip measurement between 82 and 126cm
Since Alanis flares out, it’s better to refer to the bust measurement to make the best possible size choice.
You can find it on the brand’s website for 10 euros in PDF format; it is also possible to have it printed in A0 on the brand’s site and have it delivered directly to your home.
What’s really great about the Urban Fairy brand is that Elsa offers us size adjustments. Indeed, all the models are designed based on a reference height of 1.68m, which is the average stature of Caucasian women. But that’s just an average!
Also, it can be wise to adjust the height lines of your garment. That's what I did to make Alanis fit as closely as possible to my petite height of 1.53m.
Elsa provides a ready-made chart to make these adjustments, which only require a ruler and some sticky tape.
In the seamstress's basket, for Alanis, you will find:
- a lightweight to medium-weight fabric like cotton poplin, viscose crepe, silk...
- 14 buttons from 1cm to a maximum of 1.5cm in diameter. For my version, I chose 1cm glittery raspberry buttons that I had in my personal stock.
- a bit of interfacing for the button plackets and cuffs.
Alanis is rated intermediate level, which is justified by its many technical details:
- making gathers (bust and back)
- lined back yoke
- making a button placket
- creating the lavallière collar
- sleeve slit
- making a cuff gathered onto the sleeve hems
- assembling the sleeve
- making the buttonholes
- hem
For me, this makes it a very nice study and technique review piece.
The explanations are clear, and I encountered no difficulties during the test!
In short, I really enjoyed making this test version; it allowed me to review my adjustments and revisit some pattern-making concepts.
If you want to know more, here is the presentation video:
