For the month of January I intend to ‘Go Green’, by that I mean that I would like to concentrate on projects using fabrics with a Green theme. I have several lengths selected and I hope to use them on ‘new to me’ patterns plus some old favourites.
Viscose Challis 
Viscose, Viscose, Cotton Jersey, Cotton Drill
The first project was a long sleeved blouse (‘Carmen’) using a TNT pattern, last made as the first project of 2021. What a coincidence that the pattern was again to be the first make of 2022!
For this project I used 1.6 metres from one of the 6 metre lengths of the Green Palm leaves viscose that I bought sometime ago from Rainbow Fabrics. This blouse, when combined with the Jenna skirt by Seamwork will look like a shirt dress, a similar effect to that used for the Blue viscose blouse/skirt combo that I made this time last year.
When cutting out I noticed that I had already made the forward shoulder adjustment, apart from that the construction was straightforward. I used French seams throughout and the edges of the facing were neatened by overlocking before a single turn hem.
The long sleeves have gentle gathering at the shoulders, a continuous lap placket and lots of gathering into single button cuff. Buttonholes stitched beautifully on my ‘Sewing Retreat’ Brother 550SE machine, all the coconut shell buttons were also stitched on the machine.
The hem was overlocked and then turned inside so that there are no raw edges. Once again I have added a shirt tail-shaped hem so that the blouse tucks into skirts easily but can also be worn outside trousers.
Project #1 Green Palm Leaves Viscose Long-sleeved Blouse
I am very happy with the final result blouse and as I love this print so much went ahead and cut out another blouse.
Project #01 completed 2nd January 2022