Wednesday 7 August 2013

Mathilde, Mathilde, Mathilde, Mathilde

If you have stopped by my blog before, you will know that I am an unreserved fan of the Mathilde Blouse, created by Tilly over at Tilly and the Buttons. This is not just a fleeting statement, but as you're about to see, this pattern has been a big influence on my recent makes. I have now made it (in some form or other) four (yes, four) times! I never intended to create so many variations from the same pattern, it just sort of happened. Hopefully, this post will show how, with a few simple alterations, you can use one (brilliant) pattern in so many ways!



Mathilde 1:

 


This was my first encounter with the Mathilde Blouse pattern, and as soon as I saw it, I knew I had to have a go at creating it. The big sleeves, the pintucks, the beautiful button back, yep, sold! I bought the pattern with excitement and anticipation, as I knew creating it would involve some new skills and techniques that would take me out of my comfort zone. As for the fabric, I stumbled across it during one of my many online fabric searches and just couldn't get it out of my head - you could say it stole my heart (sorry). There was only 1 metre left of this material, not enough to make the full blouse, so I had to make some adaptations - I turned it into a cropped, short sleeved version. A couple of months after I made this blouse, Tilly provided instructions on how to make a summery version of the classic original, which featured short sleeves, so I guess I had already sort of made one of these the other way round! (a complete coincidence, but I like to think this makes me a sewing psychic).

The first time I:
  • Bought and assembled a PDF pattern - I'm now a big fan of the immediacy of downloading a pattern, plus, I became reacquainted with my Pritt Stick!
  • Made buttonholes! This was something I had avoided for a long time, and even after turning every piece of scrap fabric I owned into a buttonhole shrine through practicing, these are far from perfect - I have to make sure that I wear something underneath at all times, because I made the buttonholes too big for the buttons (which I love - thank you Cath Kidston!) All this aside though, I'm still really proud of this blouse and wear it regularly.



Mathilde 2:



The pattern as it was intended! I made the classic blouse for my mum for her birthday earlier this year. She had, for a while, been admiring my summery Mathilde, so with her birthday around the corner, I decided to make her a blouse of her own! The fabric was a dream to work with - where I wanted a pintuck, the pintuck there was! Gathered cuffs? No problem, the fabric bunched beautifully. This might have been one of my most straightforward makes to date.

The first time I:
  • Made a garment for someone else! That may make me sound like a selfish stitcher, but really it is just so much easier to measure  and make things for yourself - plus, I can forgive a couple of mistakes, (remember on school reports when you got awarded for effort?!) I set myself the task of ensuring this was my best make to date as my mum really deserved it - and you know what? When I made it, I really think it was! 




Mathilde 3:



For a long, long time, I have wanted to make a loose fitting, flattering dress, that didn't leave me looking like I was playing dress-up in one of my dad's work shirts. This certainly seemed to be an impossible task for a significant period of time; but then, when I was abandoning hope, there was the Mathilde - what if it became a dress? Within days of entertaining this idea, I was scrolling through the Mathilde Makers Gallery and I came across Katy's dress version - it could be done (eee!) and done, it was! I love the colour and drape of this dress, before parting with any money for it, I assembled mood-boards of orange and coral dresses, just to be sure I was truly committed so something so bold (I was).

The first time I:
  • Strayed away from good old safe cotton! If cotton is the Prefect of fabric school, then the fabric I chose was definitely the rebel of the class, most likely to be found in detention or bunking off lessons. I won't lie, I am not a fabric expert (this is something I absolutely have to work on) and can't for the life of me remember what material this is, but I had never worked with a slippery, slidey fabric before. There were definitely some hiccups along the way (the pattern doing a sterling impression of Bambi on ice against the fabric) wonky pleats (which I reworked until they were worthy of the pattern) and uneven hemlines (I inadvertently made a high-low hem- I went with it, and am really pleased I did!)







Mathilde 4:

 

I'm pretty sure that calling this a Mathilde at all is somewhat inaccurate, however the pattern I made originated from the Mathilde base - so I'm sticking to it! I removed the button back, chopped the sleeves into wide, shorter ones, instead of pintucks, gathered the front of the dress into the bodice, and finished the sleeves, neckline and bodice seam with bias piping. I was able to have a lot of fun with this make, as I had nothing to compare it to - hacking the pattern meant I wasn't comparing my own creation to those made by more experienced sewists.

The first time I:
  • Completely hacked a pattern (sorry Tilly!!)
  • Piped seams (as mentioned in my previous blog, I am now in love with this technique!)
  • Stitched a rolled hem (sort of - I found a fab tutorial on how to create one without a rolled hemming foot)
  • Lined a garment when there were no instructions to do so.










This completes my Mathilde collection...for now...I don't yet have an original version of the blouse for myself - so much potential!

11 comments:

  1. sweet, those dresses suit you soooo much. really pretty, my sewing is in no way upto scratch anymore, you'll have to give me a lesson lol!! looking forward to seeing more creations! You won't have to buy clothes ever again! (cept for the fabric and buttons and zips and threads, lol!) xxx

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    1. Thank you lovely one! That's the aim!! xx

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  2. They all look fab, I love the red dress version.

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    1. Thank you Lynne! I'd had a couple of practice runs with the blouse versions first, plus, it's a great pattern!

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  3. I like your last dress when worn with the belt. It's really pretty and summery, and a nice interpretation of the original pattern. You'll finally have had a chance to wear it, with all the nice weather lately.

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    1. Thanks for taking a look and commenting Katie! It will certainly get a wearing in the sunshine!

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  4. Oh wow your adaptions are great - i've not yet tried the Mathilde, but I think I need to start downloading patterns. Love the neat piping!

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    1. Hi Char, thanks for the lovely comment! I really do recommend this pattern (in case you couldn't tell!) and I would like to thank lots of pins and my invisible zipper foot for the neat piping!!

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  5. Cute! I love all your versions, especially the dresses. I've been wanting a simple shift with sleeves for awhile and was thinking of buying the Colette Laurel, but I think I like your Mathilde dresses better :)

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    1. Ah wow, thanks! It's a really fun pattern to play with, though I must say, I've really been admitting the Colette patterns too!

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  6. Wow, my favourite is the red dress. But all of them are great. Greetings Ottilie

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