Vintage Pattern: Butterick 5238, Creating the Toile
Over the long New Year’s weekend I worked on creating the toile for the yoked blouse. I made the first one out of cheap muslin to get the fit right. The preparations I made to the pattern during the last post, adding inches to the bust and waist, worked out well and gave me a piece that almost fit.
As you can see from the photos, the sizing in the pattern was a little off on the front creating a pleat in the fabric to make things line up. I marked the necessary amount to trim off the pattern in purple. The back fit very well, but created some awkward bubbling at the top of the darts. I’ve simply extended the darts up to the bottom of my shoulder blades to help with the issue. I also extended the pattern by 1 inch at the hem. This wasn’t strictly necessary for fit, but it does give the shirt more versatility for me.
Since vintage mid-century styles tended to have higher waists than modern ones, adding some length will allow me to wear the shirt with both vintage bottoms and my modern ones, without feeling short. I hate wearing something that makes me feel like I constantly need to be pulling it down, and as someone with a long waist this is an issue I run into a lot.
A WORKING TOILE
What is a working toile? It is a piece you make that is finished and wearable, though not the intended final object. Doing this and including the finishings can teach you a lot about how you want to make small edits to the construction of the final piece. This is not something I do a lot, but since I haven’t bought the fabric I want to use for the final piece yet, I decided that this would give me the opportunity to wear the piece and work out any final kinks in the design. I used a yarn dyed chambray from my stash and some scraps of a shot cotton for the collar and buttons.
As you can see from the first two images for the front and back, the shirt fits comfortably and has eliminated the egregious pleat and ballooning of the previous toile. The self-facing arm holes are hand stitched down, as well as all along the rest of the side seam, creating a very comfortable finish. The last picture is to show a few kinks that need to be worked out. I didn’t align the yoke quite right, the edge of the collar should hit the point of the yoke to allow for maximum opening on the collar. There is also too much fabric in the finish below the center of the yoke and I have come up with a plan on how to trim and include that in the topstitching to eliminate the excess that needed to be hand stitched in place.
After wearing this for a day, I think I will want to make another major adjustment to the pattern. I want to extend the height of the yoke to give myself a bit more room in the neck line. This means adjustments to every single piece of the pattern, but I think it will be well worth it for comfort. One more toile before the final product should do it, but this one is very wearable and as soon as it is warm enough I’m sure it will make its way into my closet.
