Forget-Me-Not Patterns Helmi Blouse

With the abundance of bank holiday Mondays that we have to enjoy with in the UK this May, I decided to spend one of them sewing and had an enjoyable day making the recently released Forget-Me-Not Patterns Helmi Blouse pattern.

The Helmi is a semi-fitted, pull-on blouse designed for lightweight fabrics. It has bishop sleeves that can be made either three-quarter or full length and gather into a binding. The blouse also has either a Peter Pan or stand collar, with the neckline being fastened at the front using either ties or a button and loop. There are also optional ruffles for the neckline and shoulders. 

I used the full-length sleeves, stand collar, tie neck and neckline ruffle.

The pattern comes with separate pattern pieces for small, medium and large bust fits, which between them cover bust measurements from 27.5" to 58.5".

I thought the instructions for the Helmi blouse were excellent. They're very detailed without being too wordy, and they're accompanied by extremely clear diagrams. You do have to pay attention to the instructions because they use different seam allowances at different points in the pattern, but the seam allowance is always stated clearly for each section. I found the combination of the instructions and diagrams very easy to follow and didn't have any trouble sewing my blouse. 

The pattern is rated for intermediate sewers, which I would say is fair. The collar and the gathering of the sleeve into the binding mean that this is a slightly more involved project with quite a few steps to complete. For me, it was the perfect project to gradually work through over the course of a day. It would also be quite a good project to work on slowly in stages if you're fitting sewing into limited time.

In terms of sizing, I used the medium bust pieces and blended out from a size 38 at the bust to a 40 at the waist. That's what's recommended for my current measurements and I think the sizing is just right. It's semi-fitted as intended and feels good to wear. I didn't make any alterations to the fit and I'm happy with how it turned out.

The fabric I used is a cotton lawn. I bought mine on a recent trip to Yandles - I can't see it on their website, but the same print is currently available at Jenny Stitches (a shop which I've ordered from a few times and would very happily recommend). It's a great quality fabric - it was a pleasure to sew, and I think it's perfect for the Helmi blouse.

One point I would mention about fabric is that I found the fabric requirements quite generous. For sizes 28 to 40, the pattern calls for 2.2 metres of 140 cm fabric, but I managed to cut my blouse out from just over 1.5 metres. 

All in all, I'm really pleased with my Helmi blouse. It was a really enjoyable project to sew and it's lovely to wear. The neckline makes it slightly different from other garments in my wardrobe which is nice - it's always good to try something new, isn't it?!