Strawberry Mae...

For  all of you still sewing up your Mae blouses at the moment to enter the Mae sew-along contest or those of you in need of a little inspiration, check out this most lovely of loveliest Mae blouse made by Heather over on her blog handmadebyheather.

Heather was kind enough to answer a few questions for me about her sewing experience with the Mae blouse, so take it away Heather:

What type of fabric did you use? What inspired your choice of fabric?

My Mae blouse is made from some vintage cotton purchased off of Etsy.  It's most likely quilting cotton, which I usually shy away from for garments, but I'll make an exception for a vintage fruity print.  I love fruit prints, especially ones that aren't too cute.

 Did your Mae blouse live up to the image you had in your mind?

Yes!  I've mentioned before that my figure is probably just a larger version of yours.  Makes it easy to picture how Bluegingerdoll patterns will look on me, just add some more cake ease.

How did you decide to reflect your personal style in the pattern?

Mostly through fabric choice. I wanted a top that was classic looking but fun. Also I match my vintage inspired pieces with modern shoes and accessories. Otherwise I just look like I'm wearing a Halloween costume.  

Tell us a bit about your sewing process, any tweaks you made?

I started with some of my normal fitting tweaks, a forward shoulder adjustment and adding more ease in the waist and hip area.  I think the neckline is lovely as is, but I also like flashing my collar bones, so I decided to cut it back.   I did this by tracing the scallop edge with a clear ruler 5/8" away from the pattern edge.  This change makes the centre scallops larger but the neckline still looks great.  Make the same change to the facings and sew as instructed.

 What thoughts do you have about the project?

This was a fun little project to sew together other than the fact I can't see any markings on this fabric!  Putting in the buttonholes was a bit of a hit and miss affair.  It all worked out in the end and I can even button all those buttons myself!

Have you got  any plans for any future Mae Blouses?

Oh yes, I wanted to sew along with everyone else so I'm making a white with black polka dot version. It's gonna have some red accents just for fun.

Thanks Heather for sewing up the Mae blouse so, so  beautifully!


The Mae giveaway is still very much open to all who wish to participate, there is still time to upload your finished Mae blouse to the Flickr group, and go in the running to win some fab prizes! I will extend the cut off date, due to a quite a few queries from you all that want to participate but are a little bit behind. So you will have until Tuesday the 24th to  upload your photos,  then lets the voting begin!!!

I have spied some really gorgeous Mae blouses in the Flickr group already and all i can say is WOW! They all look so AMAZING..  I'm even more excited to see  more of your beautiful Mae blouses!



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