Challenging Myself No. 3 – A Topsy Turvy Tale of Pin Tucks

As I put the finishing touches to my Quinn Trousers (pattern by Merchant & Mills) mentioned in a recent post, I realised I have shown you Challenge no. 1 (waxed cotton anorak) and Challenge no. 2 (tailored jacket) but forgot about No. 3 which was a pin tuck blouse.  This forgetfulness may have been partly down to the imperfections and mistakes I made with it but, as I don’t like to spare you any gory details I should really blog about it before I move on to Challenge no. 4.

I saw the Byrdie button up pin tuck blouse/dress by Pattern Scout initially on Love Lucie’s blog and, should you be thinking of making this, Lucie does a very good job of talking you through the process whereas I, as usual, have left it so long to post about that I only remember the bad bits which, I must emphasise, are all down to me and not the pattern. Anyway, I thought it looked good and would make a suitable challenge for me as pin tucks are something I’ve never really tackled before.

So, I bought some very similar linen blend fabric to the one that Lucie had used – because it’s not possible to have too many white shirts or blouses is it? -and got to work on version B which has ‘tuxedo shirt-style tucks across the bust, bishop-style sleeves, and a simple band collar’.

The first disaster was my bobbin thread was looping and I didn’t notice it until several of the tucks had been sewn.  “It will be on the side of the tuck that’s pressed downwards” I assured myself, fixed the problem (can’t remember what it was now but it was bound to have been the sewing machine’s fault) and carried on.  Suffice it to say there is the option to put a pin tuck or a pleat at the back below the collar.  You will not need me to tell you which option I went for but I took a photo so I’ll show you anyway.

OK, I’ll tell you as well – It’s a pleat.

The second disaster was that, as I admired the neat pin tucks I’d created, I realised I’d put them on the wrong side of the bodice pieces, the fabric not having a right and wrong side.  I had a minor hissy fit – well, O.K., I went all dramatic about it – thinking how awful it would be to undo all those neat little tucks.  I even tried to convince myself that the reverse side of the tucks would look good as a feature on the front of the shirt although what that inversion would have felt like next to the skin I can’t imagine.

When I calmed down I realised that, if I switched the bodice pieces round and put the buttons where the buttonholes should be – and vice versa – I would have a blouse that buttoned up the ‘male’ way but at least the pin tucks (imperfect as they are) would be on the front as Pattern Scout intended.

The third disaster is that I’ve yet to wear it and not sure I ever will.  The fabric feels fairly stiff and formal and I’m not sure that an already generous bust is enhanced by having pleats all over it.

However, it is definitely wearable and, when the cooler weather comes round, I might wear it open over a t-shirt or style it somehow so that it looks OK.

So, pin tucks….  Been there, done that and never going to do it again.

Now to finish those challenging trousers and write about them while I can still remember where I put the photos and what was good and bad about the process and, of course, as I’m involved there will definitely be some bad  (Spoiler Alert – buttonholes).

Talking of spoilers, I’m not going to give away anything but, talking here mostly to the U.K readers, what about that winning garment on last night’s Great British Sewing Bee final?   Absolutely amazing, ingenious and beautiful and all within a time limit.  It takes me that long sometimes to put a zip in.