A Pussycat Bow Blouse (McCall's 9319)

I started this shirt last year, then put it away for... reasons.  Now I have time, and it's a lovely sheer cotton that I'll want to wear soon, so I take it out to finish it.  Because of the time gap, there's some discrepancy in my methods; for instance, I started the thing with French seams everywhere, but finished with normal darts, and I was originally recording my time, but didn't at the end.  Oh well! 

PUSSYCAT BOWS

The large bow at the blouse's neck, known in French as a lavallière, is also intriguingly known as a pussy bow or pussycat bow.  I don't know the reason for the cat reference, which is only as recent as the last century!  I have always liked them, since I grew up seeing them on Miss Brahms of Are You Being Served. 

Now people have tied bows around their necks in many different times and places, but the modern (post 1930's) pussycat bow is distinct in that it's made as one with the shirt.  In this McCall's pattern from 1968, the collar is a narrow band, like a Mandarin collar but not stiffened, and the bow ends are sewn into the collar piece at the front.  This makes the bow easy to wear; I don't have to hunt for a scarf to accessorize, since the scarf is part of the shirt already. 

The pussycat bow has an odd public history: though it looks girly, it's famously associated with Margaret Thatcher, who was often perceived as a sexless old battleaxe*.  More recently, Melania Trump wore a pussycat bow shortly after her husband's "grab 'em by the pussy" comments became public, and I like to believe she was giving him a sartorial finger. 

* Monty Python did a "Naughty Bits" animation where they kept pointing out "naughty bits" on various illustrations... but when they got to Margaret Thatcher, they couldn't find "naughty bits" and settled on her feet instead.  I can't find the animation, now, but I think it was from Episode 2:9: How to Recognise Different Parts of the Body.

FIRST SEWING SESSION

The pussycat bow looks well sewn in fabric that has some body and loft to it, like taffeta or organza.  if the fabric is too weak, it looks floppy.  My feeling is: the bow is a statement, and statements should be made with confidence!  However, I don't have that perfect fabric.  What I have is a lightweight cotton (not quite a gauze but gauzy), with a cream-on-cream polka dots print.  Polka dots are not my fave, but they are subtle in this fabric, and I think they go with the blouse style.  I also have a bit of silk organza (from when I cut the train off this wedding gown) that I use to interface cuffs and collar. 

Here's the layout for cutting.  You can see that this 1968 pattern was one size per envelope; I'm just lucky it was my size! 

Below, you can see the way I use tailors' tacks to mark key points like the locations of darts or gathers.  A tailors' tack is a large stitch or two, taken very loosely, in contrasting thread.  I stitch right through both layers of fabric when the pieces are just cut out.  Then I carefully tug the pieces apart so I can see the thread between them, and snip the thread.  This leaves me with two pieces, marked at important points with little tufts of thread.  Woolly, fuzzy thread is nice to use because it's less likely to slip out while the pieces are being handled.  I use regular all-purpose thread here because it's a bright color. 

Tailors' tacks sewn through both pieces

Tailors' tack when I pull the pieces apart. I snip these threads in between the layers to separate the pieces.

(As far as pattern marking goes, I know that there's a method involving some washable carbon paper and Wartenberg wheels, but I never learned it.  Likewise, I know some sewists use temporary pens, but they make me nervous.  I use chalk, which dusts right out, and tailors' tacks, which pull right out.  If it's going to be completely concealed, I use pencil sometimes, but not on a sheer fabric like this.)

And here's the silk organza used as interfacing.  It doesn't have the spray glue on it, so it's sewn in instead of ironed on.  Both the silk and the cotton are pre-washed, to get their shrinking done before sewing.  If I don't pre-shrink both layers before sewing, there's the risk that the silk will shrink at a different rate than the cotton, leaving the finished shirt all puckered! 

cuff piece with silk organza interfacing

Because my fabric is a little sheer, I decide to do the darts with French seams.  That means a little careful planning:

STEP ONE
With the dart folded to the OUTSIDE of the blouse (the opposite of how it should usually be sewn), draw a line just inside the dart's uptake (the triangular bit).  In this picture, the pins and ruler mark the final sewing line for the dart, and the blue chalk line is the first sewing line, inside the triangle part.  We are looking at the face of the fabric, the outside of the finished blouse. 

STEP ONE

STEP TWO
Sew on the marked line.  Trim the triangular uptake away, leaving just a sliver of seam allowance.  In this picture, the seam is still slightly blue from the chalk, but you can also see the red thread of the tailors' tack that marks where the final seam will be.

STEP TWO

STEP THREE
Press and turn the blouse so the dart is to the inside, now.  The raw seam allowances get tucked into their own wee pocket.  It's a little hard to explain; hopefully the pictures help: both THREE-A and THREE-B show the inside of the blouse.  In THREE-B, with the dart folded again, you can see the seam allowances trapped in the crease. 

STEP THREE-A

STEP THREE-B

STEP FOUR
Sew the dart again, this time along the lines marked by the tailors' tacks.  This is the final seam, trapping the raw edges inside.  The seam allowances are inside the shirt now. 

After this step, I set the blouse aside for months.  When I find it again, I see I have my time invested written on a little slip of paper:
8:30-8:50 cut out pattern
8:50-9:05 read pattern
9:05-9:10 iron fabric and interfacing
9:10-10:03 cut out pieces; tailors' tacks
10:10-10:20 baste-in front facings
10:30-11 sleeve placket and cuffs
8:40-45 back shoulder darts
6:20-6:30 sleeves into armscyes: sew, serge, press. 

This list is incomplete, since it doesn't include doing the French seamed darts or the collar, so clearly I got lax in my recording. 

SECOND SEWING SESSION

When I pick it up again this week, I don't quite remember what my plans were, but I'm eager to finish.  All that needs doing are the vertical darts (front and back), the buttons and buttonholes, the bottom hem, and the top-stitching on the cuffs.  I start with the darts.  I don't follow the pattern exactly, for these, because I'm making the shirt for myself, not for McCall's fit model.  Instead, I use the tailors' tacks as guidelines, but I decide on the dart's depth by fitting the shirt. 

Here's how I fit my darts.  First, I pin the cardinal points of the shirt to my pants: Center Front (CF), Center Back (CB), and the two sides.  The reason I pin the cardinal points is that in the finished shirt they should be hanging plumb.  If I pin them to my pants, they can't shift while I'm fiddling with darts, and when I pinch the dart excess, I know I'm only taking it from one quadrant of the shirt. 

I notice that the side seams are set slightly further back than I'm used to; I wonder if it's a quirk of the pattern, or a feature of older patterns generally.  I like the look and feel of it, at any rate!  I like that from the front view, the shirt seems to wrap around without a seam.  In this picture, I've pinned the cardinal points so they can't move, and I'm pinching the desired dart at its deepest point. 

Forgetting about my desire for French darts, I sew these darts like normal, and end up with a shirt where the side bust darts and back shoulder darts are made with one method, and the underbust and back darts with another!  I could fix it... but I won't.  I just want to finish at this point*.

*Aww, who am I kidding?  I'll fix them eventually.  Just not right now.  I have to let them annoy me for a while, first. 

I cut the bottom hem high on the side seam, to make it curve up over the legs.  I think that a curving hem is more attractive when the shirt is worn un-tucked: a straight bottom hem cuts my body in half abruptly, but a curving hem, high over the hips, makes my legs look longer from the side view. 

When the finished shirt hangs on a hanger, you can see one aspect of it that puzzled me when I was making it: the right side tie is longer than the left, by a few inches!

Once I try it on, though, it makes sense!  The right side closes over the left, so the right tie travels just a bit farther to meet the left tie, and the bow ends up looking even despite being made from uneven lengths.  Cleverly done, McCall's! 

Trying it one, I find myself dissatisfied with the closure.  The pattern calls for only three buttons down the front, and none from the waist down!  I add snaps to the top--between buttons--to prevent gaping, and to the bottom--below the waist--because I don't like it flapping open.  I'm also mildly dissatisfied with the fit over the bust... I will tweak the dart some more so it's not so tight there.  But not now... later, when my annoyance with it reaches critical mass.  For now, I'm happy to have a new shirt! 

FINISHED!

YIKES! My hands look terrible. All that Covid 19 inspired hand washing.