Bellini & bunnies

If I really like a finished garment, it's fairly common for me to then dream up an infinite number of different versions in my head that I could possibly create. Most of these don't happen because I don't have endless amounts of time on my hands, or enough money to be able to afford all the fabric that I'd need, but sometimes the perfect fabric is just sitting there already patiently waiting to be used, and that's just what happened for this project, my second version of the Capital Chic Bellini blouse!

I quite like making second (or third, or forth....) versions of a pattern. I know some people might prefer to always use different patterns so you're potentially using new skills and not just doing the same thing, but the way I see it, a second version of a pattern means that you don't have to worry about muslins and possible fitting issues, and you can just get on with the fun of sewing - always a good thing as far as I'm concerned. Plus you can be fairly confident that you're going to like the end result if you liked your first one. I also figure it's fine to have multiple versions of the same pattern as long as they're all a little bit different and you're going to wear all of them. And that's definitely true in this case!

In some ways, there are similarities between my two Bellinis; they're both made of fabric with a small-scale print on a blue background (albeit different shades of blue), but they feel very different. I made my first Bellini using a nice crisp cotton, whereas the fabric for this version is viscose, which has much more drape to it so feels very different to wear. Plus the prints are different - this one may look like slightly odd blobs from a distance, but look at it up close....

....and you see it's actually BUNNIES! Yes, I have a whole herd (is that the right collective noun?!) of rabbits jumping about all over my blouse. It's probably meant for children, but I like it so it's all good. I bought it from Fabric Rehab, at the same time as I bought the fabric for my Cambie and first Lilou - that was a good fabric haul!

I used the same buttons as I did for my first Bellini, but this time in pink to match the pink bunnies. I realised that I actually also used the same buttons in blue on my Sureau dress last autumn! Obviously I like little flower buttons, and the people that make them have a strange ability to produce them in exactly the right colours to match my fabrics.

In terms of the pattern itself, I stand by everything I said in my post about my first Bellini - the instructions are nice and clear and I really like the finish of the blouse, it's all so neat and tidy and professional-looking. This one was slightly less of a joy to sew than my first one, but that's entirely down to the viscose not behaving as nicely as the cotton did. It didn't slip about too much though and was totally manageable, just not quite as cooperative as cotton!

I possibly like this one slightly less than my first one too. That's not to say that I don't like it, I definitely do, but the way that the viscose hangs means that I can sometimes get a bit of gaping between the buttons if I'm not standing quite right, which doesn't happen with my cotton one. It's a minor problem though, and I should probably just use it as an incentive to have better posture - it definitely won't stop me wearing the blouse anyway.

So there we go, that's my second Bellini for you! I'd like to try another version with the scalloped collar, or possibly some collar embellishments at some point, but it might have to wait for a while because I've got so many other ideas buzzing round my head at the moment! Do you like making multiple versions of the same pattern too?

Capital Chic Bellini Blouse

I love the excitement of seeing new patterns released and imagining all the possible garments that could be created from them, so a whole new pattern company popping up all over my twitter feed and blog reader not so long ago was a particular treat! You've all heard of Capital Chic by now I'm sure (if not, check out the lovely patterns!), well here's my version of the Bellini blouse.

In some ways, I'm not the target audience of Capital Chic - the patterns are designed for work and cocktail wear, whereas I work from home and unfortunately have very few occasions that call for a cocktail dress (I should probably do something about that.....), and my slightly vintage-esque tastes are fairly well catered for by many of the other pattern companies out there. However, I love the idea of patterns that focus on slightly more advanced techniques, and the designs, while not all necessarily being completely my current style, are gorgeous and a bit different. Plus, the beauty of sewing is surely that you can put your own spin on patterns to make them suit your own tastes and lifestyle.

The Bellini is a loose-fitting blouse with cap sleeves, so could work really well for lots of different styles. It also has two different collar options (the cutaway one that I used here and a cute scalloped version), and Sally suggests embellishing the collar, which I'd definitely like to try at some point.

It's designed to be worn fully buttoned up, which I like in theory and on other people, but it suits me a lot better with the top button open.

I really enjoyed sewing the blouse. It uses French seams throughout, the armholes are bias-bound and there's a machine rolled hem. I'd never done a machine rolled hem before, but the instructions and diagrams were nice and clear, and easy to follow (as they were throughout the pattern) so it was no trouble. I think the whole finish of the blouse feels quite professional - my Mum was definitely impressed with how good it looked when I showed her (I'm never quite sure whether to be flattered when that happens or slightly insulted that people didn't think my skills were up to much before!).

Generally, I'm not a huge fan of PDF patterns, and if there's an option for a paper pattern version then I'll always pay more to go for that, but this PDF was the best one I've used so far. It was possibly helped slightly by the fact that being a top, there were way fewer pages than for a dress, but all the pages fit together perfectly, and there was no wasted space on the pages.

I cut a straight size 16 and didn't need to make any adjustments. I usually always make a toile of a new pattern, but as the Bellini is loose fitting I decided to live on the wild side this time, and just did some quick tissue fitting to check that everything looked OK.

Part of the reason why I did this was because I was using some material from my stash that, while really pretty, has definitely already been more than worth what I paid for it. I got somewhere in the region of 5m of it on ebay for less than £5 years ago, and it has been used for a huge variety of accessories and things for me and for presents, so I wouldn't have been heartbroken if this hadn't turned out completely right. Luckily for me, that wasn't a problem and the blouse fits me nicely.

I wanted to pick out the red in the print so used some cute little flower buttons from a local shop. Since I've finished the blouse I've also decided that I now need a red skirt to wear with it too, so expect to see one popping up here at some point soon!

There'll probably be another Bellini at some point as well - I got some pretty viscose a little while ago that I think would work nicely for version 2. Has anyone else tried a Capital Chic pattern yet? If not, I'd definitely recommended them based on the Bellini, and I quite fancy trying out the White Russian at some point too!