Getting my sewing mojo back with a black Belcarra

After all my recent fitting and toiling, making this Sewaholic Belcarra blouse felt wonderful!  I could enjoy taking my time getting a good finish as I knew I’d have a well fitting garment at the end of it.

Belcarra 4 front

The black one is actually my fourth Belcarra blouse – I made this third flowery version shortly after my second from a lovely viscose fabric brought on Goldhawk Road.

Belcarra 3 front

For the third Belcarra, I used a narrower bias strip and sewed it on using a 3/8 inch seam allowance to make the neckline a little smaller.  It doesn’t feel like the neckline actually is any smaller, but I wonder if I had stretched the neckline out a little, so for the fourth version I made sure to stay stitch the neckline as soon as I’d cut out the fabric.

I also had a valuable lesson in paying attention when using scissors near fabric when I snipped some of the sleeve while trimming the french seam.  Oops!  Luckily, it was only small and near the underarm so just took a little darning and isn’t really visible.

Belcarra 3 hole

The only niggle I have with the third version is that the fold on the cuffs doesn’t want to lie flat after washing.  I suspect this could mean that I didn’t cut the fabric exactly on the bias.  Hence for this fourth Belcarra, I really took my time over the cutting.

The fabric for the black Belcarra is my first online fabric purchase – this viscose from Minerva Crafts.  It is wonderfully soft and drapey and it comes in twelve other colours so I’ll no doubt be ordering more soon.

Black Bercarra side view

I had thought about going for the pin tuck sleeves version since I was using a solid colour, but a plain and simple (but well made) black top was what I really wanted.  Perhaps not the most exciting blog make, but a top I am very pleased with and one that should get lots of wear 🙂

2 thoughts on “Getting my sewing mojo back with a black Belcarra

  1. The finish looks great and I bet although you don’t think its an exciting make you will get lots of wear out of it because of the versatility of the colour and shape – it looks like you ahev found one of your TNT (Tried and true) patterns!!
    Looking forward to seeing a rainbow of variations in viscose.

    1. Yes, can definitely call this a tried and true pattern now 🙂
      It was hard to do the black fabric justice in the photos but it feels really lovely to wear, so will be getting lots of use!

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