Orelia blouse : a Liberty & viscose jersey combo (AnnaRose Patterns)
The Orelia blouse was a crush at the time of its release because of its originality and the possibility of making it both with woven fabric and with knits. The square neckline is a detail that always seems very elegant … but its realization was not fluid!
| ITEM | SHOP | QUANTITY | PRICE |
| Pattern PDF Orelia | AnnaRose Patterns | 1 | 8 € |
| Silky stretch Berry Knit | Stragier | 1,2 m | 10,80 € € |
| Liberty Ianthe | Stragier | 0,3 m | 7,20 € |
| Thread | — | 1 | 2,50 € |
| Total | 28,50 € |
Orelia blouse pattern
The Orelia blouse is a loose blouse with a square neckline, front and back pleats and puff sleeves. Designed to be made with woven fabric as with knits, it offers a lot of possibilities on paper.
With AnnaRose, the instructions offer step-by-step photos for some hairy points and diagrams in other places, but overall, it’s a Word document. Not super pro in my opinion … but I’m a graphic designer so …
The pattern sheet is clear, with the sizes drawn in colors and on the computer. That feature is relatively recent, the pattern of my Nelia blouse was drawn by hand. However, it is not possible to print only the size by size.
Fabric choice of my Orelia blouse
Last year almost by the day, I falled for the Black Fribay fabric discount at Stragier (but, hey, victory, this year, I resisted!).
Last year purchases included the “silky stretch mesh”, in color berry & orchid, and a small piece of Ianthe Tana Lawn Liberty in matching color (that feature on the Stragier’s website is so very practical).
The silky stretch mesh is a fine and very fluid viscose (rayon) jersey. The quantity was a little stingy in my opinion, especially since it was not cut very straight. In addition, this jersey has shrunk a lot in pre-sewing wash … (I invite you to join that seamtresses tradition consisting in washing your fabrics before sewing if you want to avoid (bad) surprises!).
On my 2 coupons, I had fabric enough only on berry colored one which was the one I liked the least. I was a little disappointed by the color compared to what I had seen on the site … but nothing to say about its matching with the Liberty. It’s perfect.
Even with being generous with the starchinf product to tame the beast, this viscose jersey was a pain in the *** to cut (I went to the rotary cutter – infeasible with chisel), and equally painful to sew.
Nothing to say about the Liberty on the other hand, we all know the quality of this fabric … and that’s a relief when you see its price!
Otherwise, this viscose jersey creases a lot … believe it or not, but I ironed this blouse before putting it for the photos!
Details and sewing of the Orelia blouse
Well, let’s be clear, I’m wearing my blouse Orelia without looking weird, but, in truth, it is too big. I swim a little inside. It’s comfortable!
The sleeves are too long; wrists especially start too high on the forearm and annoy me. So, in real life, I fold them.
The blouse in itself is too long too and has instead turned into a tunic. Admittedly, I am 8 cm smaller than the standard height for this pattern. However, I never do any adjustment on the usual bust length. I put below a comparative table between my measurements and the pattern’s measurements.
| Measurements (French ) 36 | My measurements | |
|---|---|---|
| Poitrine | 80 cm | 88 cm |
| Taille | 70 cm | 72 cm |
| Hanches | 90 cm | 97 cm |
Connecting armholes in woven fabric with stretchy viscose jersey sleeves was quite a challenge. In the end, I am quite satisfied with the result.
Big negative point from my point of view: the proposed finish for the front neckline does not work, in any case, not with this viscose jersey.
The pattern offers to simply fold once the fabric and make an invisible seam … It is a finish that I find quite curious for a hyper visible part of the blouse, right in the front. Especially when the pattern announces that it can be made with woven and / or jersey fabric.
In the end, the invisible seam was not feasible on such a stretchy fabric that marks so easily. So I turned to a topstitching after applying a bit of fusible interfacing on the wrong side of the garment.
And even like that, you can see it
The pleated wrists are a nice detail, however I’m not sure I have correctly interpreted the explanations Well, it works anyway, don’t you think?
Conclusion on the Orelia blouse
This Orelia blouse is a garment that I wear even if I can not say that it is one of my favorites. Compared to the initial crush, I am a little disappointed. The fabrics are of good quality, soft, and participate a lot in the comfort.
I did not have much fun sewing it either, largely because of the very annoying fabric, but also because of the instructions and finishes that I have not always found quite up to the task.
I do not know if I will give another try with this pattern nor with this brand. I’m a bit disheartened. But I really like the Ralph pants and the Raquel top recently released … Hum!
