Finished: Belcarra Blouse & Fit Struggles

I was really excited when Sewaholic brought out the Belcarra pattern. It was first revealed in the photoshoot for another pattern, the Gabriola maxi skirt and I was so eager to get my hands on it that I bought it directly from the Sewaholic website the day it was released.

In hindsight, it would have been preferable to wait a bit longer for the pdf pattern release. Not only would I have got this instantly, but I prefer pdf patterns to paper for tops. I always have to make a few adjustments and you can just cut straight into your print outs without any worries about damaging an original rather than having to trace the paper pattern first. Ugh.

So what is so great about this pattern? I was excited because it doesn't look like any other contemporary sewing pattern I can think of. I also liked the raglan sleeves as I find setting in sleeves difficult plus I love easy-to-wear tops in woven fabric.

The fabric I used was a lightweight cotton, a lawn weight I suppose, bought in the John Lewis sale a couple of years ago. I was very disciplined as I made two muslins, knowing that bodice fitting can be a challenge for me. I have wide shoulders but I think I also have a narrow upper chest as homemade and shop-bought tops are often loose in this area. I cut a 10 (for 36" bust), tapering to a 4 at the hip.

Here's the alterations I made to the pattern before cutting the first muslin:

• Added 1" to length
• Added 1" across upper back to give me more width here
• Brought in the neckline width as I could tell it was going to be bra strap-revealing

The findings of the first muslin:

• Neckline too wide, so I added to top of sleeves
• Too much fullness horizontally across the bust so pinched some of this out

The findings of the second muslin:

• Still too much fullness at the front

I just can't bring myself to make more than two muslins for a garment so decided to get started with my proper fabric. It came together pretty easily but my main issues were:

• Having trouble easing in the extra width at the back. I think I would not add this next time and can probably get away without it
• I have too much fabric at the centre front. This wasn't as apparent with the muslins but when I put the neckband on it became obvious:

 

Sorry for the rubbish quality photos, I think you can just about see what I meanabout the extra fabric above the bust

I wonder if this was because I basically cut too large a size? I went by my bust size as usual but if going by my high bust I should have cut an 8. I have read about people using their high bust instead of full bust measurement but I am a bit confused about when I should do this, i.e. if modern/vintage/independent patterns would use this measurement? Or maybe I just need some kind of narrow upper chest adjustment?

In any case, I decided to add two decorative tucks to the neckline to bring it in:

This is fine and does the job but I really want to sort this issue out and understand what the problem is. As I mentioned, I have had this problem before - I have a Seasalt T-shirt which is gappy in this area plus one of my Grainline Scout Tees is also too wide here so I had to do a central decorative pleat along the neckline to sort out the fit.

Would I make the top again? Yes - I like the shape and style of it. I also managed to squeeze it out of 1metrre of fabric, by leaving off the cuffs. This isn't ideal but its tricky to use up 1 metre fabric lengths - I really have to stop buying that much!

 You can see the shape of the top well in this picture. I think it's a flattering shape and another lovely pattern by Sewaholic.

Please comment below if you can help with my fitting woes. Do you have the same issue? Do you know how to fix it?

K x