Jessie's Girls

1981.....What a great year and a year in music!

I purchased this from ebay. I like the square neckline and the sleeve variations! I made the sleeveless top with the ruffled front.







Pattern Description
From 1981, misses' pullover blouses with square neckline and sleeve options.

When I saw the printed year of this pattern I was taken back to flashbacks of high school, the "Valley Girl" fashion scene, and rocking to the music of Rick Springfield, the Police, Rick James and Pat Benatar!

Remember when the #1 hit "Jessie's Girl" was heard everywhere and soap opera fans swooned when they saw Dr. Noah Drake on General Hospital?


Size
Misses' size 12, bust 34"

Fabric
Alexander Henry "Mad for Mod" fabric from Hancock's of Paducah.

Did it look like the envelope
A little. My fabric, belt, and trim made my top unique.






Likes
*Square neckline with optional trim
*Organized instructions
*Versatile pattern






Dislikes
* Definitely meant to be belted due to being somewhat baggy
* Order of construction for adding the trim to the neckline
The trim is added to gathered edge of the ruffles, before sewing the ruffless to the neckline. But it was somewhat of a challenge to get my ruffles to line up with the trim (bias binding in a contrast color), especially at the "mitered" corners (little darts at specific points that line up with the square necklines' corners), and this is before attaching the ruffles to the neckline!



Modifications
* Added 3/8" to width of ruffle.
* Instead of adding trim to the ruffles prior to attaching to the neckline, I basted the ruffles to the neckline the and trimmed excess fabric at top (grade the edges). Then I sewed trim with a narrow elastric edge and little organza ruffles onto the edges of the neckline.

* If ever I make the ruffled neckline again, I would skip the trim and I would baste and sew the ruffles to the neckline before attaching the facings. I would also used elastic thread to gather the edge of the ruffles. It would have made gathering so much easier!


Directions
This was basic and simple blouse to sew that I relied more on the satisfactory illustrations! McCall's assumed that the sewist knows basic constructions such as gathering and making facings.


Would you make this again? Would you recommend this pattern to others?
Yes! I plan to make the other styles without the ruffled neckline. I would recommend this pattern or something similar to others. There are current patterns that have similar styling (i.e. Simplicity's Project Runway series