Autumn Color and the Chopin Blouse

A kind of mood board from June Coburn

Now moving into autumn - I do love those colors - burnt orange, chocolate brown, burgundy, deep teal. I have a nice little pile of these in stash. It's been fun pulling them out and planning some pieces and ensembles. 

Patterns: Pearl jacket, Bristol top, Helix pants

Fall also puts me in the mood for shirts and all the details that accompany a shirt. An old Sewing Workshop pattern, the Chopin blouse, caught my eye somewhere, probably on the Sewing Workshop gallery. And then I discovered that I do not have it in stash. So how did that happen?!? I tend to collect all their patterns, but particularly the old ones.

The older ones have all the interesting details and shapes. The Chopin blouse came out in 1999 so it's of millennium vintage. In the illustration it looks kind of 90's, doesn't it? The shoulders look wide (and they were) and the proportions are very 90's, as well.  

So I queried my local ASG chapter and Beth (thank you, Beth) donated her copy to me. She said she doesn't want it back, but if you change your mind, Beth, you can have it. I traced my size and so the tissue is still intact. 

Oh, my, the details on the Chopin blouse! I kept some and omitted others, especially all that ruching! There is a collar band with a ruched collar above it. I just dropped the ruched collar and kept the band, something I often do with shirts anyway. The cuffs on the sleeves were deep and also ruched. I liked the depth but drafted a new cuff. 

Cuff facing, placket, cuff and other placket

Right and wrong side of cuff after assembly

Cuff ready to attach to the sleeve hem

I really love the shape of the sleeve. It is slightly bell shaped. The very deep cuffs angle back in to the wrists creating a narrow shape at the bottom. And the cuffs present a cool place for extra buttons. In the end I used 3 buttons on each cuff.

Finished cuff

Those pockets! Too bad they don't show up at all in this brown and white linen. I'll have to incorporate that idea into another shirt some time. I think it would be fairly easy to draft them onto a different pattern since they are simply overlaps top-stitched in place.

And there are godets in the side seams, giving the appearance of a waist. I think that would be flattering on lots of people.

Lastly there is the pleated back peplum. I goofed and inserted it backwards so mine is a box pleat instead of an inverted pleat. I might go back and fix that but probably not.

The silhouette was a problem. The pattern as drafted is quite oversized as most 90's shirts were. I am wondering if shoulder pads were intended. The shoulders on the size S definitly fell off my shoulders by a good inch.

And it was too long. I shortened the overall body by 3". In the back, I shortened it by 2" at the top of the peplum and another inch along the hem. I shifted the godets up a couple of inches after adjusting the horizontal seam on the peplum. Then I cut the remaining hems to be even with the back hem. The resulting hem is straight, instead of a shirt-tail hem.

I narrowed the shoulders and reduced the side seams on the shirt, as well as on the sleeve underarm seam to accommodate the shoulder adjustment. 

There were no lengthen/shorten lines on the pattern pieces, so I just had to wing it. Because it worked out, I now think of it as fun. It was quite nerve-wracking in process, though, because I was working with the fashion fabric rather than a muslin. 

I know. I know. But I was channeling Diane Ericson the entire time. She has such a playful approach to design and typically works with the actual fabric, adding and subtracting as the design and fit require. I aspire to be that experimental. 

And I got lucky this time.

1937

In 1937, Roosevelt was sworn in for a second term. Amelia Earhart disappeared in her attempt to become the first woman to fly around the world. And Zora Neale Hurston published her novel Their Eyes Were Watching God. 

Unknown women all over the country were making quilts to keep their families warm during the depression. I have one from my namesake, a frail Sun Bonnet Sue quilt. My father's Aunt Mattie gave it to me when I met her once in the late 50s or early 60s. In one corner, there is a simple embroidery that reads 1937.

A number of years ago, maybe 10, a friend in my book club was downsizing and brought in several old quilts to give to anyone who would have them. She had no idea who made them, but someone in her husband's family, probably. 

The Poppy quilt came home with me. It was frayed around the edges like mice had gotten into it. The binding was sheer in most places, missing in others. And there were stains, of course. 

With four large applique designs arranged symmetrically along the axes of the quilt, the colors seemed bright, though not the original colors. The applique work was lovely, accented with French knots and other embroidery stitches. I now know that it was made entirely by hand. Even the binding was applied completely by hand. The quilting outlined the applique and, in between, she used diagonal lines to create a kind of lattice work.

I've washed it a number of times and worked on the stains without any success. I purchased some orange-red Kona cotton that I could have used to repair, or replace the binding. I hung it on a bedroom wall for a while. I put it on the guest bed for a while. And then I folded it up and put it away again.

When someone in my Fiber Art Fusion group asked for a class on making quilted jackets, I decided to make the leap and cut into this quilt. And I've convinced myself it was the right thing to do. In fact, I really love the jacket. 

The Tamarack jacket from Grainline Studio is very popular and a perfect silhouette for transforming an old quilt. With only 3 main pattern pieces - front, back and sleeve - it could not be simpler and still be pretty, IMO. The pattern includes pieces for welt pockets, as well as instructions for quilting the pieces as you go along.

I spent quite a lot of time deciding how to position the pattern pieces, wanting to avoid stains, yet show off the beautiful workmanship effectively. I placed one large applique motif down the front, but off-center in order to extend the design into the shoulder. Another large applique was placed on the back along the fold line. I was able to connect the two at the side seams.

There were 2 major motifs remaining. I placed one along a sleeve and left the second sleeve mostly white, a place to rest the eyes in this busy design.

The yard of Kona cotton worked out great for bias binding along the edges, as well as Hong Kong finishes to the interior raw edges. I have enough left over to create little appliques to cover the remaining stains, if they bother me. So far, they don't.

The side seams were a bit challenging. The instructions are non-existent vague on that juncture where the hem binding and the side seams meet. My hems are covered with 1/2 inch binding, and most interior seams have the HK finish. All seam allowances are 1/2". I chose to press the seams to the back, as instructed, and then graded them a bit. Then I applied a quasi-HK finish to the one exposed edge. Unlike standard HK finishing, I hand-stitched mine to the back of the garment. It is still a wee bit lumpy there.

While cutting it out, I noticed that there was one small *signature* on the corner, much like the one on my great-aunt's quilt. That corner became an interior pocket with new binding. I may add some embroidery here clarifying that the quilt was made in 1937 and the jacket in 2021. 

Honestly I became a little emotional as I added the pocket. I could not help wondering about the woman (or women) who made this beautiful quilt. What were their hopes when they gifted it to my friend or to someone else in her husband's family? And how many hours of loving stitching did they invest?

I have convinced myself - and please don't dissuade me - that this jacket honors the maker, whoever she was, whatever her story. I will think of her each time I wear it. I love it.