The Camas Blouse

Would you look at this cute top by Thread Theory Designs?  This is the Camas Blouse.  I didn't know Thread Theory made women's patterns.  

I had what I think is just the right fabric for this top.  This is a linen knit in a very pale green.  If you've never sewn with a linen knit, they are wonderfully soft but you need to take a few precautions.  

First of all, look how low the neckline is on this!  I knew it would be low but I also knew that with the lightness of the fabric I'd wear a cami underneath.  

This knit also gathered really well!  

Both the front and back yokes are self lined.  If your knit is super stretchy, you may want to consider adding a fusible, stretch interfacing.  I did not.  On every knit garment I make, I staystitch stay-tape just inside of the seam on the wrong side of the garment.  This small step ensures I don't get anything to stretch out of shape.

I used steam-a-seam on the hems.

I also choose not to have functioning buttonholes.  This went on and off easily so no need!  

I used a rotary cutter when I cut this pattern out and carefully fused a high-quality interfacing to both sides of the bands prior to stitching on.  No matter how careful I was, I still had an area or two where I just didn't have the same width so I used a quilting attachment.  That is that bar thing you can see above.  This ensured that when I stitched these bands on, I had an equal width everywhere around it. I simply love sewing tools!

Here you can see more of the front gathers.  This is a great pattern.  I hope you will try a new-to-you pattern company this summer!

Thanks for reading!

Sue