Craft Book Month Blog Hop: Peter Pan Blouse

It's time for the 3rd Annual Craft Book Month at Craft Buds! I'm so honored to be one of the lucky crafters chosen to participate in the blog hop. I have so many wonderful craft books hanging around my apartment. This blog hop gave me a chance to work on some projects that have been on my to-make list for months.

For my project, I chose the Peter Pan Blouse from Gertie's New Book for Better Sewing. (Also on my to-make list: that gorgeous brocade dress on the cover!) If you get around in the sewing world, you probably already know Gertie from her New Blog for Better Sewing.

 

My favorite thing about this book is that it teaches you skills that you won't learn from just any sewing pattern. I've sewn a fair amount of patterns from different companies, and never before have I tried some of the techniques that are in this book.

 

Dude. I drafted this Peter Pan collar myself!

 

The patterns in this book all have a vintage look, so I pulled out some fabric from my Aunt Maude's stash to make sure I honored that style.

 

A few of the new techniques I learned from sewing this project:

 

Bound buttonholes: A pain in the butt, sure, but aren't all buttonholes?

 

Fabric-covered buttons: Plain buttons look totally boring after making buttons that match my blouse. And it only took about five seconds to actually make one!

 

Drafting collars: I've always wanted to add a Peter Pan collar to all my shirts, and now I can. Would that be going overboard?

 

Drafting facings: This pattern gave me the power to draft my own facing -- a skill that I could translate to a lot of other projects.

 

Of course, it takes time to do all these little extra things, but it's totally worth it in the end.

 

The blouse has beautiful fabric-covered buttons going all the way up the back, buttoned into bound buttonholes. (Gertie's, of course, look very professional. Mine could use more practice.)

 



Want to see what everyone else is making? Check out all the blog hop participants throughout September and link up your craft book project to win:

Week One
Monday 9/2: Fabric Mutt / LRstitched
Tuesday 9/3: Stitch This! The Martingale Blog / Stitched in Color
Wednesday 9/4: Fabric Seeds / Pile O Fabric
Thursday 9/5: The Feisty Redhead / Rae Gun Ramblings
Friday 9/6: Sew-Fantastic / Clover + Violet
Saturday 9/7: A Prairie Sunrise / Small Town Stitcher

Week Two
Monday 9/9: Hopeful Threads / Go To Sew
Tuesday 9/10: The Sewing Rabbit / Sewing Mama RaeAnna
Wednesday 9/11: Marci Girl Designs / imagine gnats
Thursday 9/12: Sew Sweetness / amylouwhosews
Friday 9/13: Lindsay Sews / 13 Spools
 Saturday 9/14: Inspire Me Grey / Angela Yosten 

Week Three
Monday 9/16: Sew Very / Craftside
Tuesday 9/17: The Littlest Thistle / CraftFoxes  

9/1-9/30: Link up your craft book project at Craft Buds from your blog or Flickr account, and enter to win prizes. Winners will be announced on Tuesday, October, 1!

To participate in the month-long contest, just link up any project you've made from a pattern in a craft book. That easy! You'll tell us a little about the book, the project, how you personalized it, etc.

Rules

1) One entry per person. 
2) Your craft book project must have been completed in 2013. 
3) Create a new blog post or Flickr photo (dated September 1, 2013 or later) and link back to Craft Buds/Craft Book Month in your post or photo description. In your post or photo description, make sure to list the craft book you used and provide a link if possible.
4) All winners chosen via Random.org. Some prizes available to international winners, so please join us!

Prizes

Visit Craft Buds and link up your craft book project during the window of Sept 1-30 and you'll automatically be entered to win some fantastic prizes from the Craft Book Month sponsors!

No time to make a project? You can also follow Craft Buds all month long for your chance to comment and win some new sewing and quilting books for your library.