Coppelia in Red

Look what I made! It's the Coppelia cardi by Papercut Patterns, in a fire engine red wool jersey from Simply Fabrics in Brixton. I really enjoyed making this, firstly because it was a relatively quick make, secondly because I'd been coveting Lauren's version, and thirdly because it's always great to try out an indie pattern company for the first time (noooo, of course I'm not hinting at anything...).

Winnie just wrote a great post asking what steps people add to a sewing project that aren't listed in the pattern - it's so interesting to read about different people's approaches. For this pattern, a couple of steps I added were to stay stitch the seams that were cut on the bias and apply stay tape to the side seams to help prevent the knit from stretching out of shape.



When I first finished this, I declared it a wearable muslin* because I wasn't totally happy with the fitting...

... the neckline seemed to be sticking up by about a mile, which I put down to my narrow shoulders...

... or if I pulled it down to fit my shoulders the cardi gaped at the bust. So I was planning a refitting operation involving pinching out triangles of fabric at strategic points and redrafting the pattern to fit me...

... but then when I wore the cardi properly for the first time, I just did the wrap bit up a bit tighter, pulled it a slightly different way, and tada! It didn't seem so bad after all. Do you ever have that when you stare at a project for too long and blow little niggly things out of all proportion? In the meantime, however, I'd emailed the lovely Katie Papercut and she offered to produce a photo tutorial on the fitting. How's that for customer service? Pretty awesome, if you ask me!



Have you sewn a Papercut Pattern pattern? I'd love to see! Check out my interview with Katie Papercut, then get yourself over there.

[Soundtrack: 'Flutes' by Hot Chip]

*a test version of a sewing project to check the fitting, but that can also be worn around the house when no one's looking

FINAL STEP! Attach the Cuffs

Last part of making the Mathilde Blouse, y’all! You excited? I am!

As you will have no doubt noticed, the sleeve hem is a lot bigger than the cuff band. By gathering a large sleeve into a small cuff band we’ll be giving the blouse an elegant puff. Let’s do this…

Your cuff pieces should have already been interfaced. Stitch the short ends of each cuff together, right sides together. Press the seams open.

Now fold each cuff in half lengthways, wrong sides together. Press the fold line to mark it, then unfold it again.

Slip a cuff over the edge of each sleeve, with the right sides together. Start by pinning them together at the seam lines and notches. Pull on the gather threads at the sleeve hem until the fabric has gathered up to fit the cuff. Then you can use your fingers to spread the gathers out evenly. Once the sleeve hem fits the cuff and the gathers are spread evenly, pin them in place. Use lots of pins - pinned at right angles to the edges - to help keep those gathers even.

Stitch the sleeve hem to the cuff. If you sew with the sleeve turned right side out, and the wrong side of the fabric directly under your needle - as shown - you can keep an eye on the gathers and readjust them as necessary (mind your fingers!). If you’re super earnest and want to make extra sure your gathers are really even, you could tack (baste) first using long stitches that you can pull out later. Take your time here to get the gathers even - there’s no hurry.



Trim the sleeve seam down to reduce some of the bulk. Unpick the gather stitches.

Press the cuff away from the sleeve. Now turn the sleeve wrong side out. Fold the bottom edge of the cuff under by 1cm (3/8in), wrong sides together, and press. Fold it under again along the fold line that you marked by pressing earlier, and press again. The inside of the cuff should just overlap the seam line.



All that’s left to do now is attach the cuff to the inside of the sleeve. My preferred method is to "stitch in the ditch" - in other words, stitch on the right side of the sleeve, with the stitches hidden in the seam line where the cuff joins the sleeve hem. Make sure the other side of the cuff is caught in the stitching and that the raw edges are tucked away neatly.

If you prefer, you can hand stitch the cuff instead :)

Ta da!!! You’re done. You’ve made a beauuutiful Mathilde Blouse!

Wanna show us what you've made? Tag us on Instagram @TillyButtons using the hashtag #SewingMathilde so we don't miss it. Can't wait to see!

Add Buttons and Buttonholes

Now comes a particularly monumental stage of making the Mathilde blouse – sewing on the buttonholes and buttons! You’ll be able to do the blouse up, y’all!



Before you start stitching, double check the placement of the buttonholes. The buttonholes go on the right back opening and the buttons go on the left back opening. (My pattern cutting teacher once told me the mnemonic, "Women’s clothing does up right over left, because women are always right." Totally sexist, admittedly, but I remembered it!)

If the buttonhole markings have rubbed off your fabric, get your pattern out and mark them on again. Line up the edge of the opening with the "fold line" marked on the pattern, and position the top edge of the pattern 15mm (5/8in) above the neckline to account for seam allowance.

Right, now let's get stitching...



Stitch the buttonholes on the right back opening. Depending on what sewing machine you have, you'll probably do either a four-step buttonhole if it's manual, or a one-step automatic wizzy one if it's computerised. Read about sewing one-step buttonholes, or take our Sew Your Own Shirt or Shirt Dress workshop if you'd like to watch the process for both in videos and get lots of helpful tips and tricks :)

Open up the buttonholes carefully with a seam ripper. To avoid ripping right through them, make an incision in one end, gently rip towards the centre, then do the same in the other direction.

Place the right back opening over the left one as if you were doing the blouse up, then pin in place. Push the tip of a chalk pencil or washable pen through the buttonhole to mark on the button position, 3mm (1/8in) down from the top, to mark the button positions on the left back opening with a little dot. It's best to mark the buttons here rather than in the centre of the buttonhole, as buttons will naturally want to pull towards the top of vertical buttonholes.

Sew the buttons on by hand, centring them over the little dots you just marked. Tip: If you find yourself frustrated by your thread knotting up, invest in some thread wax which will keep things gliding along more smoothly.

Et voila! It's starting to look like a blouse now!

Catch up on the rest of the Mathilde blouse sewalong.

PS. Want some more help sewing buttonholes? Sign up to our online workshop, Sew Your Own Shirt or Shirt Dress, to watch up-close-and-personal sewing videos with tons of tips and tricks!

Sewing the Back Opening and Hem

Making the Mathilde Blouse? In this post I'm going to show you how to sew the back opening and hem.

Let's get started...

Turn the edges of the back openings inwards by 6mm (1/4in), wrong sides together, and press. (NB. If you pressed down the top edge of the back openings when pressing the neckline facings down, fold them up again for this bit.) Stitch the edges down using a 3mm (1/8in) seam allowance.

Fold the back openings inwards along the fold lines (or the edge of the interfacing), right sides together.

Stitch across the top edges of the back openings, at the same level as the neckline seam.

Stitch the bottom edges of the back openings, 1cm (3/8in) up from the bottom edge. Cut a rectangle of fabric out of the interfaced part of the bottom corner to reduce bulk when you turn it right sides out. Don't cut right up to the stitching line though – the interfacing will help form a nice, neat corner when you turn it through.

Now you can start on the hem - check it's evenly balanced all the way around, then finish the raw edge of the hem using zigzag stitch or an overlocker. If you prefer, you could turn the raw edge under by 5mm (1/4in), press and stitch in place - we'll then turn the rest of the hem allowance up a bit later...

Turn the back openings right sides out. You can ease out the fabric at the corners so they look more like right angles (read more about folding a neat corner). Press.



When you turned the back opening out, you will have turned the rest of the hemline up too. Press the rest of the hem up neatly to the same level as the bottom edge of the back opening.

Stitch the hem in place, close to the inside fold or the finished edge.

Topstitch (or "edgestitch") a rectangle all the way round each back opening, 3mm (1/8in) from its edges. Be sure to catch the edge of the neckline facing in the stitching.

And that's it for today! We'll do the buttonholes next...

Sewing the Neckline Facing

Sewing a facing is a great way of finishing the raw edge of the neckline on a garment. A slim-ish strip of fabric is cut to the same shape as the curve of the neckline, stitched, then rolled to the inside. Take a peek inside some of the clothes in your wardrobe if you can't visualise it - it's very likely you'll find a few neckline facings.

In this post I'll show you how to construct the neckline facing and attach it to the bodice, using the Mathilde blouse as an example. (Need to catch up? All the steps so far are outlined here.) This is a looooong post, but all the individual steps are pretty quick, I promise.

Ready to sew? Let's go!

Your neckline facing pieces - front and back - should be interfaced. Pin them together at the shoulder seams, right sides together, matching up the notches. Stitch.

Trim the seam allowances. If your fabric looks like it's going to fray like crazy, you can finish the seam allowances with zigzag stitch or an overlocker (serger). Press them open on both wrong sides and right sides.

The lower edge of the facing isn’t going to be stitched to anything, so it needs to be finished to make it look a bit nicer and to prevent your fabric fraying all over the place. You can finish this edge however you like - zigzag stitch, using an overlocker/serger if you have one, attaching binding… or if you’re really lazy you can just snip it with some pinking shears – you’re the only one who’s going to see it anyway… ;) Don’t worry about finishing the ends of the facing – they’re going to be hidden away under the back opening when we get to that bit.



Now to pin the facing to the neckline. I find it helpful to add an extra notch at the centre front to help match them up - fold the bodice and facing in half lengthways, and snip a small notch at the neckline on the fold.

Pin the facing to the neckline, right sides together. Start by matching up the shoulder seams and centre front, before pinning the rest. On the Mathilde blouse, the ends of the facing should stop 8.5cm (3 1/4in) from the raw edge of the back opening. Hopefully the neckline won't have stretched out if you staystitched it earlier - but if it does seem a bit big, you can ease the fabric in gently to fit the facing neckline.

Once you’re happy that it all matches up, sew them together at the neckline with a nice smooth curve. Sew with the interfacing face up on your machine - it will help stabilise the two layers so they're fed through at the same speed and don't ripple up. Smaller stitches can help navigate a curve, so you could change your stitch length to 1.5 – 2mm. Be careful that the shoulder seams don’t bunch up or fold the wrong way when you sew over them.

Before turning the facing to the inside of the neckline, we need to reduce the circumference of the raw edge - at the moment it's longer than the curve of the seam, so the seam allowances would bunch up when turned to the inside.

One way of reducing the circumference of the raw edge is to clip into the curve. Alternatively you can just trim the seam allowances down - this way is less messy. If you make one of the seam allowance layers slightly wider than the other, the edges won’t by lying directly on top of one another, so it’ll be less bulky.



Press the seam allowances and the facing away from the bodice. Now you can understitch the seam allowances to the facing – this basically means stitching the seams and facing together, very close to the seam line. It will help keep the facing on the inside of the garment and keep the seam allowances lying flat.

I'm showing you what it looks like to understitch from the wrong side of the fabric so you can see what's happening - but you may prefer to understitch from the right side. It's up to you. As you're understitching, gently pull the fabric away from each side of the seam line so you don't get any ridges.

Now you can press the facing to the inside of the garment, rolling the seam line under slightly so it's not visible from the right side. Use a bit of steam from your iron to soften the fabric first (without touching the iron to the fabric), then roll it with your fingers to and press in place.

If you want to be extra certain that the facing isn’t going to roll to the outside, you could make a few little stitches at the shoulder seams – either by machine “in the ditch” (ie. hidden in the previous stitching lines) or catch stitches by hand.

And that's how to sew a facing!

Take a look at more sewing tips...

How to Sew French Seams

French seams are a rather fancy way of creating a lovely, neat finish to your garment. What they do is enclose the unsightly raw edges of the fabric within a neatly stitched secret cavity, never to be seen again… or that’s how I like to think of them!

They work really nicely on light- to medium-weight fabric, but not so great on heavier fabrics where they'd create bulky seams. They’re particularly useful on sheer fabrics as they look less conspicuous than overlocked seams. The strength of the seam also makes them practical for clothing that’s going to go through the laundry a lot. Plus they just look awesome :)

You know how you usually stitch fabric right sides together? Well, with French seams you start by stitching the fabric wrong sides together. Sacré bleu! Intrigued? I'm going to show you a demo on the Mathilde blouse sewing pattern. Let’s go…

Start by placing the pieces you want to sew wrong sides together. Stitch the seam with a 5mm (1/4in) seam allowance, back tacking at each end.

If your fabric frays a lot, trim those pesky sticky-outy threads so they don't reveal themselves later.

Press as follows:

1) press flat to help set the stitches into the fabric;
2) press the seam allowances open;
3) fold the fabric right sides together around the stitching line and press along the fold.

Pin the pieces together along this fold.



Now stitch the fabric right sides together using a 10mm (3/8in) seam allowance, back tacking each end. The raw edges should be hidden away within the two lines of stitching.

Press the seam to one side. When sewing a bodice, seams are usually pressed towards the back. On the Mathilde blouse, press the yoke seam up rather than down to reduce bulk at the tucks.

Now admire your handy work – don’t those French seams look beautiful?

Want to give them a whirl? Sew French seams on our Mathilde blouse or Fifi PJs pattern.

Joining the Mathilde Blouse Bodice

Making the Mathilde blouse? The tucks - the trickiest part are now done. Hooray! Let's move on to sewing the bodice together...

But first let’s quickly talk seam finishes. You're welcome to sew the seams together the regular way (ie. right sides together) and finish the seam allowances using zigzag stitch or an overlocker (serger). I'd suggest you try French seams on this blouse, as they suit lightweight fabrics really nicely. I mention this now, because if you go with French seams you’ll be constructing the bodice in a slightly different way to “normal” sewing where you stitch right sides together with a regular seam allowance. Find out how to sew French seams.

Whichever method you go for, these are the bits you need to sew together next:

Sew the yoke to the front bodice and press the seam allowances up towards the yoke.

Sew the front bodice to the back bodice at the shoulders and the side seams, and press the seam allowances towards the back.

And that's it! The next step for the Mathilde blouse is to attach the neckline facing...

Stitching Darts

Darts are one of the methods used in garment sewing for shaping the fabric around the curves of the body, such as at the bust and waist. When stitching a dart, essentially what you're doing is folding and removing a triangle shape in order to give a flat piece of fabric a 3D form. Clever, non? Darts can be straight triangle shapes or slightly curved, single or double-ended.

I'm going to show you how to sew the most common darts - single and straight (don't read too much into that!) - using the Mathilde blouse as an example. Here we go...

Mark the dart lines - or "legs" - onto the wrong side of the fabric when cutting out the pattern (read more about marking and cutting fabric). As well as marking the legs, I also like to draw in the central line of the dart to make the next step easier...

Fold the fabric right sides together along the central line, so the dart legs are sitting on top of one another. Pin the dart legs together - if you stick the pins along the dart leg, rather than across it, you can check they are coming out the other side of the fabric exactly on the other dart leg, meaning the legs are aligned accurately. You'll be sewing from the raw edge of the fabric towards the tip, so place the pins the way I have in the photo above - this way you can pull them out by the head just before the needle reaches them.

Press the fold to neaten it.

Stitch the dart legs together, starting from the edge of the fabric moving towards the tip of the dart. It's tempting to go the other way, but if you do so there’s a good chance your thread will get all tangled up at the beginning.

You can back tack the stitching when starting from the edge, but don’t back tack the stitching at the tip or the thread will cause an unsightly lump! Instead, stitch off the edge of the fabric and cut the threads leaving enough so you can tie them together by hand into a tight double knot.

Press well! A bust dart should be pressed downwards, or if you’re working on a waistline dart press it towards the centre. If your fabric can handle it, you can use the steam in your iron to shape the point and create a nice, smoothly curved dart. A tailor’s ham - or substitute such as a rolled up towel - will help with shaping.



Et voila! Lovely, shapely darts.

Want more tips on sewing darts? Check out this post on five or six different ways of sewing darts.

Sewing Beautiful Tucks

I love tucks! These little stitched folds of fabric can make a garment look so pretty. The Mathilde blouse includes six rows of tucks draping down over the front bodice. In this post I'm going to show you how to sew them...

Tucks are constructed by stitching and pressing excess fabric to form folds. The pattern lines can seem a little confusing the first time you make tucks, but it’ll all make sense once you’ve done it once. Basically a tuck is formed as follows:

- The central line of each tuck ("tuck fold line") is folded, wrong sides together, to bring the excess fabric up.
- This brings the outer lines ("tuck stitching line") of the tuck together – these lines can then be sewn together.
- The tuck is then pressed to one side over the space between them.

They’re not the easiest thing to get right first time, so if you haven't made them before it's worth practising on some spare fabric before taking the plunge on your garment. The key to tucks that make your heart sing is to stitch the lines as straight as you can and keep the width of each tuck the same.

Here's the method I like to use...

Before you start sewing, mark the tuck lines onto the right side of the fabric. The way I like to do this is to mark the ends of the darts onto the fabric - just at the edges within the seam allowance - while the pattern is pinned to the fabric at the cutting stage. Then I remove the pattern and use a ruler to connect the lines with a sharp chalk pencil. (Do check your marking pencil/pen will come off your fabric first!) To avoid confusion, mark the fold lines and stitching lines differently, for example, with full vs. dashed lines.

Double check the tucks are spaced evenly - the gaps between the lines on the Mathilde blouse should be 15mm (5/8in). If your fabric is slippery - like mine is here - you may find that the lines look a bit wibbly. You could try stabilising it first with some spray starch. (Read more tips on sewing slippery fabric.)

To avoid the adjacent tucks getting in the way while you're working on them, I like to work on two at a time - one on the left side of the bodice and one on the right - before moving on to the next pair.

Fold along the middle ("fold line") of each tuck, bringing wrong sides of the fabric together. Press along the fold. (If your fabric is slippery, you could use a piece of card to press the folds neatly in place before stitching.) Pin directly along the stitching lines. That way you can check the pins are exactly aligned with the marking lines on both sides of fabric.

Sew along the stitching line, taking your time to keep the line as straight as you can. You can use the lines you drew on the fabric as well as the seam guide on your sewing machine to help keep your stitching as straight as possible.



Once you've pinned and stitched all the tucks, press them - if you're making the Mathilde Blouse, press the bodice tucks towards the bodice side seams, on both the right and wrong sides of the fabric.

Now staystitch across the top of each section of darts, 10mm (3/8in) from the raw edge. This will help hold them in place when you sew the seams so they don't fold back the wrong way.

And that's it! Lovely looking tucks.

Wanna try them out? Make the Mathilde blouse sewing pattern.