Button Front Roscoe in Sage
Hi friends!
How is it March already?
How have you been doing? I hope you’re making it your priority to take care of yourself, especially in the time like this.
Last month I wrote that my sewjo had been on a break temporarily. Well, soon after I wrote that, I think it started to come back to me!
I recently made two new tops which I’m pretty happy with.
My sewjo started to come back when I found some inspiration online, a gorgeous top made with navy linen. It was a “Roscoe Blouse” with button front hack, and that modification convinced me to buy the pattern right away.
Roscoe Blouse & Dress by True Bias is an oversized top/dress with gathered neckline.
General construction is similar to The Wilder Gown by Friday Pattern Co., so I considered alternating the Wilder pattern at first. But the amount of ease and the gather actually looked quite different; so I decided to just buy the Roscoe pattern because 1) I’m happy to support both of the indie designers, and 2) so that I can recreate my version as close as possible to the original inspiration (the navy linen version).
I didn’t have any lightweight linen suitable for this project in my stash, so I used a viscose twill instead. The viscose twill is quite different from linen, it’s more drape-y, soft, and there’s not much body to it.
But because I also saw a rayon crepe version and a cotton lawn version done by True Bias, I was sure that my viscose would work wonderfully as well!
The modification tutorial is available on an article by Tessuti. In their tutorial, they modified four things:
Adding the centre front
Raising the centre front neck
Adding volume to the sleeves
Adding sleeve plackets
But I only added the centre front (mine is 4.5 cm), and omitted the other three modifications.
I think Roscoe already has generous amount of ease and gather on the sleeves for me, so I left it as is.
I also wasn’t sure if raising the centre front neck was necessary, and I do like how mine turned out without raising it, but I might try it next time.
I’ve always considered using this pattern but I was never fully convinced about the front centre slit with a necktie and the amount of ease.
I do really love the design of tops with gathered neckline, but they never really seem to work on me.
I feel that button front solved that for me; and frankly, even if it doesn’t “flatter” my figure as much, who cares? At least I shouldn’t, right? If I like the style, I should go for it.
But aside from that, I like the design of this top with the button front more, too.
I have shortened both sleeves and the hem; 5 cm for the sleeves and 7 cm for the hem.
I think I’ll shorten the sleeves further next time, maybe 1-1.5 cm extra so that my wrists would show more.
As you can see, Roscoe has generous amount of ease, it’s so comfy to wear. It will be super breezy in warm weather too. I think I could go down a size (or adjust by giving more seam allowances), and it’d still have enough ease.
I’m so glad I made this top. I have a cotton lawn that would be perfect for this which I’m planning on sewing soon and can’t wait to make a linen version sometime too!
Before I wrap up this article…
I’d like to share my favourite quote from “The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey”.
“Saruman believes it is only great power that can hold evil in check, but that is not what I have found. I found it is the small everyday deeds of ordinary folk that keep the darkness at bay. Small acts of kindness and love. Why Bilbo Baggins? Perhaps because I am afraid, and he gives me courage.”
I love this Gandalf’s line because it gives me hope.
The hope to make me believe that we each have small power that can change the world.
And we can’t let a dictator take that away from us.
No to war.
Mar 8, 2022
