Rhapsody Blouse in Crinkle Rayon

The Love Notions Rhapsody blouse has been on my To Do List for about a year now. I even had the pattern printed and traced, but Love Notions re-designed the blouse recently and seeing all the beautiful versions on Instagram just pushed it all the way to the top of the list!

And I couldn't be happier with my new blouse!

I made a size XL based on the finished garment measurements and it fit me without any modifications at all. The pattern is very well written, simple to follow, with lots of step-by-step guidance and pictures. The pattern has a few really good features:

• 9 different sleeve options and a dress option
• full bust pieces are included
• the back yoke is finished in the "burrito" method meaning there are no raw edges

I used French seams throughout because the fabric I was using is so light. I really like that the garment is beautiful inside and out.

I did make a small change to my version. Instead of using the bias binding to make ties, I sewed it on across the V neck as demonstrated in this hack on the Love Notions blog.

I still need practice with bias binding, and this fabric definitely wasn't the easiest to work with, but it's not too bad.

I love the curved hemline and the pleat at the back.

The fabric is a crinkle rayon I purchased from Blackbird Fabrics a few months ago (no longer available unfortunately.) It is a beautiful print and is really nice and flowy. It was a little bit challenging to work with for me because I'm not very experienced with thinner fabrics but it is such a pleasure to wear!

I'm already planning a few more of these. 

The details:

• Pattern: Rhapsody Blouse and Dress by Love Notions with the short sleeves
• Size: XL - no size adjustments (I used the regular bust front) 
• Fabrics: Crinkle Rayon from Blackbird Fabrics