Keyhole Blouse from my New Gertie Book

 Hello, this weekend I made my first make from my new book, Gerties New book for Better Sewing.  I bought this for myself as a Christmas present and this was the first thing that caught my eye.  Now the fabric I bought some time ago from John Lewis in Sheffield just before it closed down and I don 't normally having much fabric hanging around I usually have a purpose in mind when I buy but this piece must have been waiting for this blouse.  I think so because the pattern just has the right kind of feel for it.

So completely out of character for me is that I did a little dummy run on an old duvet cover piece just to check because well, this fabric has waited long enough so I did not want to spoil it after all this time.  It was just as well I did that as I found I had to adjust my keyhole neck a little.  Other than that the fit is good, I really recommend trying out the neck shape though to get it just right if you are making this blouse.

For the buttons I made regular button holes, the book suggest bound ones but as the pattern is busy enough just regular ones here.  Also I chose to alternate the colours as I had these colours in my store which go really nicely with the fabric and they are big ones too. There are five rows of shirring stitches at each shoulder that you probably can't make out in this photo.

Overall I think it is a really lovely blouse, you do still need some know how though as you are adapting the pattern given for the bow tie blouse. The book is full of lots of useful advice if you are thinking of buying it.  Mine was purchased second hand from wordery.  I don't know what I will choose to make next I will have to have a think.  The blouse was made over a few relaxed sessions and this was nice as many of the things I make for work are done  in one sitting, I quite enjoyed doing a bit then coming back to this over the weekend.

The book The Lighthouse Witches was finished yesterday, I really enjoyed the book however it is so sad that so many women had to die over the centuries for being accused of witchcraft. I have read a few books that are based around this subject and it still astonishes me the kind of ludicrous charges that were passed along with the brutal cruelty. 

So today I have started Fevre Dream by George R.R Martin and so far so good however it is about vampires so I may have to pause if I get scared!  I picked up this one a while ago at a charity shop.

We are still watching Yellowstone but nearing the end of this series so we may watch on eof the origins ones next.  I may have mentioned before we only watch TV after nine in the evening as we like to do other things before then.  Although that said I did watch a ballet early evening one day last week, Coppelia, it was not one of the best not enough dance content for me too much pointing and gesturing if you know what I mean.  Apperently it is a comedy, it was not funny so in a way I am glad this one of the ones I have not seen on the actual stage.

That is all for today,  have a lovely evening.