Made by Rae's Josephine

I was lucky enough to be one of Rae's testers for her newest pattern, Josephine. I love this pattern! I practically begged her (not exaggerating here) to let me test it because I wanted to sew it so much and I was not disappointed at all. In fact, I made two (!) Josephines - a blouse and a dress.

First up is the blouse. I made a size L, and because Rae is brilliant, there is one pattern piece for A/B cups and one for C/D. I am in the C/D camp and love that I did not have to make bust adjustments. Win! This fabric is a Denyse Schmidt voile that I had in my stash and it worked really well. There is an elastic casing in the back for a more fitted look. I made two adjustments: the first was to add a little length for my long torso; the second was finish the neck with the bias tape sewn to the inside of the blouse instead of over the edge. Little things, really. (I should have ironed this first - another little thing!)

And now for the dress. The Josephine pattern comes with a blouse length and tunic length, but I really wanted a dress so I made one.

For this one, I chose to use an Anna Maria Horner rayon challis. This fabric is dreamy! And a little slippery, truth be told. I took my time and it came together wonderfully, though. To make the tunic into a dress, I lengthened it in two places - at the narrowest part of the torso and at the hem. I chose to do it this way because I was sure that if I only lengthened it at the hem, the proportion would be off - that long torso of mine, you know. It was easy to do. I chose the narrowest part of the torso and sliced the pattern, added 2" and blended the side seam line. I also added 3" at the hem, again blending the side seam. And bingo! A dress!

As always, Rae's patterns are a joy to sew. They are well put together and straight-forward. She includes a wonderful seam finishing guide and extensive instructions. I loved making my Josephines and plan to make another, sleeveless one as soon as the weather warms up.