I am Orion blouse with a hack

This is my second time trying out I am patterns. I chose I am Orion blouse that is a loose fitted boxy blouse with a Peter Pan collar. I liked the style of the Sirius top I made earlier so I was quite sure that both the style and the fit would be nice on me. The pattern also comes with the dress option but I didn’t try that out, yet.

The pattern is available both in a printed form as in a pdf file, which is the format I chose. The sizes go from 36 to 46, but since they are French sizes they are smaller than the standard European sizes. I again went for the size 38, which was perfect for me.

The fabric

Some months ago I picked these dark blue and white pique-like fabrics that I knew would suit perfectly for this style. The fabrics are probably polyester and drape beautifully. I went for the practical dark blue for the blouse. However, I wanted to emphasise the collar and make it white but I had a problem: I was worried that the white collar would catch colour in wash and turn to dull light blue. I made a little wash test and still wasn’t convinced. So, I decided not to risk it and make a detachable collar instead.

Sewing the blouse

The pattern comes with both French and English instructions. They have a lot of images to explain the different steps which is great. I did not really pay much attention to the instructions since this top was quite simple to construct and because I did the collar differently.

To finish the blouse neckline I cut a long bias strip and stitched it to the neckline. I then turned the bias strip and the seam allowance against the wrong side of the neckline folding the other edge of the bias strip under the seam allowance. I pinned the edge, basted it with hand (the slippery fabric did not stay nicely folded without the basting) and sewed it in place. Instead of three snaps I only used two to close the buttoning placket. Without the collar the blouse looks like this:

The detachable collar/dickey

For the detachable collar I cut the collar from the white pique and interfaced two of the four pieces. Then I drew the neckline from the front and back pattern pieces and cut a dickey part out of the same fabric. I decided to stiffen the dickey by making it out of two layers and used white cotton lawn for the one underneath.

To make sure that my fake collar stayed in place I added two sew on snaps at the shoulder seams that attach to the dickey. The back of the dickey also has a hook and eye closure.

So now the blouse has a collar that should stay white:

And if I spill something on my white collar, off it goes (Sorry about the weird eyes! My camera battery died at this point…):

The conclusions

I really love this blouse. It feels super comfortable but is still chic. The darts give the loose fitted Orion a bit definition but the look is still modern and minimalistic. The Peter Pan collar adds a bit of vintage vibe without making the blouse costumey. The sleeves drape beautifully. (For anyone wondering, the sleeves are a bit puffy at the shoulders since I did not iron them properly. I sort of liked how they looked so I decided to leave the ironing for now at least.) Now that I have worn it with a dark blue skirt I can also have some sort of idea on how the dress version might look on me.

All in all, I can recommend this pattern for everyone. It is not suitable for absolute beginners but if you have any sewing experience this is a piece of cake for you!

I hope you liked this post and thank you for reading it! Do subscribe to make following my sewing adventures easier in the future! Happy sewing!

 

Katja