We’re halfway through the Shirts and Shirtdresses theme. How are your projects coming along?
I’m here to share a shirt from the magazine Ottobre, a Finnish sewing magazine. The Spring/Summer 2018 edition featured a whole section of vintage themed patterns. Vintage-ish is totally my jam, so I decided to try one of the patterns and see how hard it would be to use a magazine sewing pattern.
Ottobre Norma Blouse (Pattern #10)
The pattern is described as feminine with a gathered yoke, set in sleeves, and small buttons to give it a vintage look while the fit is for today’s woman.
The size range is European sizes 34-52. The measurements are given in cm in the magazine, but they do also offer a chart in inches. They give a lot more measurements than the average pattern company, though the sizing isn’t as inclusive as we’d like here at the CSC.
My measurements are 44/36/48, so I went ahead and started with a size 42 bust then blended to a 46 waist and 48 hip. You might notice that doesn’t line up with the right sizes according to the chart (more on that later). I purposefully picked a smaller size in the bust because I have narrow shoulders and back with a F cup sized bust. To accommodate my bosom I added a 1 inch FBA and my typical sway back adjustment. Also based on the chart I did a 2 inch full bicep adjustment for my 14.5 inch biceps since I used the size 42 sleeve to avoid messing with the armscye too much.
For fabric I used some very fine lawn that was leftover from making my daughters dresses. Why I thought I needed 8 yards for toddler dresses, I don’t know. I’m grateful to have had lots left over. It’s really nice fabric.
The blouse was very simple to make. Ottobre has the best instructions of the European magazines and I appreciate that they translate the directions to English for you. I don’t remember having any hiccups aside from forgetting to lengthen the front facing after doing my FBA. Whoops! They do not include seam allowances, so make sure you add them before cutting out your fabric.
Overall I am happy with the fit, though in the future I would make some adjustments. For instance, you might notice I cut a size 42 for the bust and did a 1 inch FBA, but that only added 2 inches to the bust and mine was 6 inches bigger than recommended. Duh. I needed to do a bigger FBA and it shows. I think the shoulders are still a touch too wide, but that’s a super common issue for me. Really where this blouse feels like a flop is in the sleeves. They are drafted to be really spacious and by adding 2 more inches the sleeves feel just huge. They were also drafted super long. Those details show up in the magazine’s modeled photo, but it just didn’t register with me until I’d finished the blouse.
Norma is really pretty and feminine as promised, but it feels really oversized to actually wear. I’ve pulled out the pattern to give it a second try, but I’m in a sewing funk right now, so Norma has been put away until next spring. I should tackle it again though because I get tons of compliments on the blouse and I think the fit issues are fixable.
Pattern Rating (1-5):
Size range: 3
Instructions: 5
Construction process: 5
Final fit: 4
Overall rating: 4.25
Remember to tag your posts #curvyyearofsewing so we can all marvel at your creations!
What has happened to the monthly new pattern roundup? There hasn’t been one since July! It’s my favorite post!
You look lovely in this, and the blouse is beautiful!! Great job!!
It looks very well constructed/sewn! You sewed it beautifully! Its a bit more fitting than I would wear. But it really looks nice on you. It is figure flattering. I ordered the magazine after reading this. I can see I’m going to have some size challenges too. My waist is the same size as my hips! Thank You for this review!!
If you can get past the kind of crazy overlapping pattern sheets, the patterns are pretty well drafted.
The blouse looks really good on you! I’ve done the Norma too but for me it still needs some more adjustments to better fit my body. Did you add a dart or how did you do the FBA?
Hi Pirkko,
I think I rotated the FBA into the shoulder gathers.
This is so pretty! It really shows that even something so simple as a white blouse depends on little design details and drafting. And lovely fabric! I have been wanting some good quality white lawn myself. I need to check out the heirloom sewing sites.
I think you can handle the shoulder problem just by taking a tuck in the yoke pattern. To correct the snug bust, if you don’t want too large a bust dart you could transfer some of the larger dart to the gathers at the yoke.
All & all, this is a lovely, refined, ladylike pattern. Maybe not what you need every day, but perfect when you do.
Thanks Kay. I don’t really remember how I did the FBA, but I think some of it went into the gathers. It such a fun trick to use.