I’ve been an instagram follower of Thread Theory patterns for a while now and when she posted a picture of the Camas blouse it immediately jumped to the top of my “to sew” list. I knew I had the perfect fabric in my stash to use.
My mom brought back a bunch of quilts from her time in Oregon last year with her family and one of them was really falling apart. But, this blueberry print fabric was on the back of one and I knew right away that I was going to salvage it for something. Enter the Camas blouse. This fabric is super thin and silky; probably from years of washing. I cut it off the back and worked pretty hard to figure out how to make it work with the yard and a half that I had.
I ended up having to use some knit scraps for the sleeves and one of the yokes and some white kona for the inside facings – but in the end it all came together.
The bulk of this came together really nicely. Thread Theory has done a sew-along for this pattern and I highly, highly recommend using that as you sew. I read through the pattern directions, but there is nothing like seeing real-life pictures as you sew along. The yokes were a little odd putting them together, but they were pretty easy to figure out in the end.
My biggest hiccup came with the facings. I messed up I don’t know how many times, putting the first one on upside down and just struggling with trying to figure out how they fit together. Even using the photos from the sew-along and the illustrations in the pattern directions I still had to fumble through it until I got it right.
My outside facings were also shorter than my inside ones – no clue what happened there – so I had to fudge a little bit and add some extra length. You can’t tell because of the print and I could have just make my blouse shorter, but I really liked the length that it was at. I only did a 1/2 inch hem too because I loved the length.
I used some pearl snaps I got from Hobby Lobby (and I don’t recommend them) and I love how it turned out. This v-neck is a little lower than I had thought it would be and while I was hoping I could get away without having to wear anything under it, alas it didn’t happen.
Overall, this is a great pattern and a great shirt. I’m anxious to try another one maybe all out of knit or maybe even a cotton voile. I would recommend this as an advanced beginner. Except for the facings issues, it really is a great blouse to stretch your sewing skills on.