Róza blouse with side ties
It's the height of summer in NYC, and one of the (many) things that went wrong in my house in the past week and a half, we were without air conditioning for a while. Fun, when the humidity in the air is what, oh, 98%? This left me little energy to sew, but I did plan out a Róza variation I've since made. What, you ask? Side ties! So okay, it's not really a variation but more a workaround for using quilting weight cotton for a Róza blouse.
(I look to the side in a funny way in this photo because I'm trying to pretend my dog isn't falling into a somewhat dingy puddle right at that moment. We were in the Adirondacks with my sister and her family. I highly recommend it. Not the puddles, just the Adirondacks.) I really wanted to use some of my blue-dye cloth to make a blouse. Perhaps you remember how much I love blue-dye cloth. I had a bit of a border print left over from another project I'm working on, and I thought it would make a nice front panel for a Róza top. The border print is, incidentally, similar to the ones the lovely Britain-based shop Kekfesto Cotton also carries. Have you seen this shop yet? If not, you should - their selection is great and the site is quite informative. I love this print, I have an apron with it. You'd need 1.5 meters or bit more of blue-dye cloth (which tends to be very narrow fabric, usually only 90 cm or 36" wide) to make a Roza blouse. Here's a closer look:
The reason for the side ties is this. Blue-dye cloth is a quilting-weight cotton: durable, easy to work with, comfortable to wear, but not much drape. Well... the Róza can be troublesome if your fabric hasn't got much drape. But there's a workaround: you can shape it with some side ties. I made this Róza with a cropped hemline (view A), and short sleeves and flat front panel (view B). The front panel is a portion of a border print from one blue-dye cloth I had, as is are the sleeves. The front sides and back are another blue-dye print. To make the side ties, I cut two rectangles of fabric 3" wide and 24" long or, say, about 8 cm wide and 60 cm long. I folded them in half, stitched one narrow edge and the open long edge:
Then I turned them inside out, pressed, pushed out the points, then I positioned them on the side seams of the blouse before sewing them together at a spot that gives the blouse a slight empire shape, pulling it in right under the bust. For me this was 3.5" down from the underarm joining seams, you might prefer yours in a slightly different location.
I basted the side ties in place: 
Then I just went on to finish the blouse in the same way as if there were no side ties involved. Voilá:
Wear it anywhere you go! Like the Adirondacks. For the next two weeks I will have very sporadic internet access and won't post very much. I will check on things though, so if you have a Róza to share, please do! But in the meantime, have a lovely summer - if you live in that part of the world - and I will see you later ;).