One of my sewing goals this year was to expand my repertoire especially in creating separate pieces. A blouse is such a wardrobe staple, so it was great to find a shirt with some feminine elements. The Alea Shirt has these wonderful full sleeves as an option, and I explored sewing both the three quarter and full long sleeves. This was also the first time I’ve made a stand-up collar. This is a fantastic collaboration between Marsha Style who is one of my favourite pattern designers and the awesomely talented Sewlala.
The sizing is spot on. I made the size 8 for my measurement of 37 Bust and 33 Waist. The only small modification I made was for the sleeve when I made the full long sleeve option. I initially finished the sleeve with bias binding but found that it was too loose and hung halfway down my hand. It was an easy fix and instruction are included in the pattern. I just replaced the bias binding with an elasticated sleeve hem. This made full use of the shape and fullness of the sleeve. Some glorious puffiness!
The shirt option called for 1.5 meters of fabric. I found that I needed just a little more with the long sleeve version. I had left the pockets off as well which saved some fabric. To be safe, I bought 2 meters for the long-sleeved version. My first blouse was made with linen and my second version was made with a cotton. Both were a great match for the pattern and easy to sew with.
I’m not very experienced with sewing collars or plackets but the instructions made the process so easy! I’ll definitely be referring to this again for the instructions on these. It’s great to have a few ways for constructing the same thing.
Another great learning moment for me on the sew was the attachment of buttons. With the excitement of the finish line in sight, I had sewn the buttons on and then finished the hem. To my disappointment, the two front pieces did not match up when buttoned up. The obvious solution was to resew the hem, right? Well, when I checked the instructions, I saw that my construction was out of order. The instructions recommended hemming first then attaching the buttons. So, the issue was quickly resolved by detaching the buttons and realigning them. Problem solved! A reminder for me to keep checking my steps.
I’ll be hoping to tackle the dress version for summer. I’m especially keen to sew Version D.
Thanks for reading and happy sewing!
X Em
Em Sew Happy Blog 