Wellerman Remy

Almost the end of June and I'm still catching up from May!  That will probably be my song and dance all summer.  The hours of the day just seem to slip by me; I'm pottering in the garden, doing some deep cleaning and culling on our many bookshelves, getting the kids to and from camp, making meals, doing the dishes, laundry, etc.  It all adds up.  

Some critter (or bird, maybe) got into one of my strawberry plants overnight and ate all three partially ripe berries, plus a few more that weren't even fully grown, but left all the other plants alone (including a ripe strawberry on a lower placed planter).  Part of me thinks not to bother about it, because we share the planet, but part of me thinks that there are plenty of other places to dine in the neighborhood besides my plants, so go along somewhere else! This restaurant is closed!  None of the critters around here are the least deterred by cayenne pepper and the birds aren't scared off by the shiny CDs hanging around the planters.  Maybe I need to cut up some pie tins?  Anyway.

This make was one that I wasn't sure would suit me, but actually, I kind of love it.  I felt really great in this outfit, and the boots kind of made it for me.  

This is the gathered sleeve view of the Remy Raglan, a free add-on that I believe is now included in the pattern. I've been wanting to try it out for a while now. My primary concern was that the volume would overwhelm me, or that the sleeves would be in my way all day long.

Unlike other gathered sleeves, this one is loose at the cuff, so I knew that part at least should be fine.  I can't stand tight cuffs.  I found a length of linen on the doggie bag section of Fabrics-Store.com in the Marlin colorway, and while I was a little unsure that the color would work with my palette or tone preferences, it was cheap enough to use it as a toile.  

It turned out to be a really gorgeous shade of purple-y blue.  It looks more Delft-y to me on the website, which was why I was concerned.  Sometimes Delft shades are fine on me, and sometimes they are just blah.  I was concerned that it wouldn't go with anything, but it goes with my beet linen skirt very well, and my Purple Violet Squish skirt hack, plus my black pepper Free Range skirt hack.

I think it would also go with the dark denim skirt I thrifted and altered, but haven't tried them together yet.  I managed to squeak out one more wear out of this blouse over the weekend but I think now it will need to wait for fall weather.   

Not much to say about construction.  I made my usual size 8 (although I might have added a tiny bit on the side seam allowances; I can't really remember right now) and made the sleeve as directed.  The cuffs were pretty easy to make, and the gathers weren't too pesky.  (After making two dresses that had a LOT of gathers in them, the cuffs on this seemed easy.  I'll blog those dresses at some point). 

I'm not sure I'd make another one, because I think one statement sleeve blouse in my closet is enough for me, but maybe not?  I could see trying it in a really drapey rayon challis or something like that.  In any case, a highly successful make!  Who'd have thunk?  

Off now to attempt to impose order on chaos--ha!