Welcome to the next stop in the Anniversary Blog Tour for the Bluezette dress by Love Notions! I’m so proud to be here, especially since testing the Bluezette signified a milestone in my personal testing career.
It’s been two years since the release of the Bluezette. Two wonderful years in which Love Notions has consistently come out with reliable, classic and very approachable designs, for dresses, tops, pants – you name it! It was the first pattern I tested for Tami, the amazing mind behind the brand, and it sparked off such a passion for sewing for me. Here’s my tester photos from back then.
The Women’s Bluezette is on sale for only $8 during the blog tour, and the Girl’s Bluezette for just $6! Get your copy now! Thank you for using my affiliate links, they help keep me motivated! Also, don’t forget to enter the Rafflecopter contest at the end of the post to win a $25 Gift Card to Love Notions!
To celebrate the occasion, I chose to sew up my all time favorite silhouette, the sleeveless maxi. I deliberately chose a popular floral print, in double brushed poly since it doesn’t wrinkle, and paired it with a pearl bib necklace. My vision for the Bluezette was to showcase how the simple style lends itself to all kinds of occasions.
I’ve made the Bluezette a number of times now since its release. While I haven’t blogged about them, since they immediately went into regular use, I did notice one thing consistent about them – the elastic waist tends to settle at the narrowest point of my torso, and lately that has been just under my bust/ribs. My natural waist isn’t the smallest point of my torso, since my baby belly is still larger than usual. Now that may seem like common sense to you, but it took a while for me to figure out why even the slim fit bodice was blousy on me. The reason is that I’m so short waisted, if I don’t shorten the bodice accurately, it *will* be blousy on me, as the elastic will shift higher than intended. As a consequence the skirt will be shorter than intended as well.
My solution for this situation, and it’s not only the Bluezette, is to accurately shorten the bodice to end at not just my natural waist, but where I am thinnest – currently my ribs, but once my baby belly recedes it will be my natural waist again I’m hoping. The vertical distance between the end of my ribs and my natural waist is only 1/2″, so for me it’s not a big change. It seems like every at-waist pattern will end up being more empire-waist as a consequence, but it really does fit better if you’re shaped like me.
Another nice feature I’d like to point out is that you can make your Bluezette even with a woven skirt, with georgettes or crepes that are so readily available today. I have a ton of them, and haven’t wanted to cut into them because I don’t want to deal with bias tape. I think some of them, especially large scale repeats, would look lovely as a Bluezette!
My dear friend Tami Tanner Peterson of SewSophieLynn made her Bluezette in the same fabric, but has showcased it in such a different way! Please head over to her blog to check it out too.
Explore more of the Anniversary Blog Tour!
Monday: Sew Shelly Sew, The Wholesome Mama
Tuesday: Me Made
Wednesday: Sew and Tell Project, Harper Lu
Thursday: Doodle Number 5, Handcrafted by Red, Tales From a Southern Mom
Friday: Sew Sophie Lynn, Sewing Curves
Rafflecopter giveaway for a $25 Gift Card to Love Notions! Enter here: