FINISHED! Asaka Wrap Blouse

I bought 2m of the Asaka A Liberty Print last year from Addicted to Fabric with a voucher I got for my birthday on an impulse. While I love the print and just love the yellow pop of flowers, I rarely wear black and once I got it home couldn't really see the print made up into something that I'd wear. So it sat languishing in my stash until I saw this Burda blouse pop up on Little Betty Sews.  The wheels started to turn and then I saw it pop up again in that fabulous jewelled Liberty print, Alexandra that I made my Kanerva out of and then I saw it on Project Sewn last week. Three strikes and an idea was born.

But first, let's quickly talk about the fabric.  It is Asaka A from the Liberty Art Fabrics Collection SS14, Gallery of Prints collection.

Hina Aoyama collaborated with the Liberty Design Team to create the Asaka fabric design. Incorporating Hina Aoyama’s intricate hand-cut floral motifs, Asaka represents Liberty’s Japanese Print Department.

The Fourth Floor fabric story celebrates Liberty’s interior decoration floor. Each design pays homage to a different area or department, taking taking on the intrinsic mood of each individual space.

I had social sewing with some friends (Amanda, Jen, Myra, Siobhan and Michelle) on Saturday afternoon and didn't feel like taking my slippery Tokyo jacket to work on, so bought this pattern on Thursday and quickly cut out the fabric. I was tired by Saturday afternoon,so only managed to miter the corners and sew up the bust dusts, before calling it a day.

It's not a hard make, although I admit the mitering taxed my brain a bit as the edges don't make a square but are a bit angled.  The mitering provides for such a nice finish so it is worth it.  Sunday I got the best Mother's day present - some sewing hours and finished it off.

I thought I was a bit smarter than the instructions (sometimes I wonder why Burda even bother with an instructions sheet.. it's not like there is much written on them!) and thought I'd hem the blouse after attaching the sides.  Doing it this way means that you have to fold a tiny bit of fabric over to get the nice corner at the side seams but having said that, I'd probably do the same thing again. I prefer the look of the hem enclosing the side seams.

I made up the 36 but found it a little bit too big so used a 5/8 seam rather than the 1cm seam I'd previously used on the sides. It could probably come in a little bit on the shoulders but I quite like the how it hangs and I do love the boxy shape of the top.  The sleeve length is probably a bit long so I have rolled them over once to get more of a 3/4 look.  Next time I'll hem them shorter.

I also hand stitched the neck binding on.  I did this partly because I stupidly cut the binding just a tad too small so it looked a bit wrinkled when sewn on, but mainly, and I thought of this only after I had removed the top stitching of the original binding, that it would allow me to just bind through the bottom layer of the front wrap piece.  Much nicer in my humble opinion.

I really like the design and the 'wrap' adds a simple but effective detail which provides for plenty of coverage - as you can see!  I suspect that there might be a few more of these in my future.