Fall Florals! Anna Allen Anthea Blouse in Hand-blocked Cotton

Get into fall florals! As the last days of summer passed, I sewed up this vibrant Anthea Blouse by Anna Allen patterns. Unlike the neutral collection I’ve produced in autumns past, this blouse brings some of that warm weather joy into the new season. Truly, I thought I’d be the only bright light in a sea of dark and drab. So I was delighted to find dozens of flower varieties alive and thriving at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden where I took these photos on September 26th. I think I’m going to be sewing florals all season long!

My day at my stunning neighborhood garden began with a meetup at the New York Sewcial Hour. The ladies were headed in to see the new Dior exhibit at the Brooklyn Museum. Since I’d seen a similar exhibit 2 years ago at London’s Victoria and Albert Museum, I instead joined my friend Rebecca for some outdoor exploration and natural inspiration. I’ve lived proximal the gardens for a couple of years now, but this was the first time going in to see the magic and space inside. It definitely reminded me of one of my favorite childhood movies – The Secret Garden.

The tall girl pattern fitting challenge with voluminous sleeves is knowing how to plan the roundness of the billow. Patterns will always have the extra length for the height of the pattern block, often 5’5″-5’6″, but won’t discuss how much of that length is design ease. The best way for me to understand the ease was to ask normal-heighted women to measure their arms are from underarm to elbow and compare to my own. Since I started sewing this blouse while on the New York Sewcial Hour weekly Zoom call, I had the perfect chance to ask several ladies their length and it turns out I have an extra 2 inches there!

I styled up my new blouse with my other most recent sew – a pair of McCall’s M8148 shorts of gingham Gray Lines Linen fabric. Oh, and guess what – I bought this linen at the last in-person NY Sewcial Hour event I attended. The community connection and inspiration really has come full circle!

See all of my details for sewing up this pretty Anthea blouse below.

Pattern

• Anthea Blouse by Anna Allen
  • I received this pattern through the Fabric Godmother Ambassador’s program. I will be making it again in one of their beautiful fabrics!
  • This is the shirt length pattern
• Sewing Difficulty – 2/5
  • Overall, this is an easy sew, but it requires a few techniques that might be new to a beginner sewist. You’ll learn a bound neckline, a self-placket, button holes, and a curved hem.
• Fit Difficulty – 1/5
  • This is a loose-fitting, dartless blouse so there’s a ton of flexibility with fit.
• I really enjoy this pattern and I plan to make it in several prints and fabrics and fill my wardrobe.

Fabric

• Hand blocked cotton print from Navya’s Fashion
• The fabric is very lightweight and pressed very easily

Fit & Modifications

• I cut a size 8 based on my high bust measurement plus 2 inches.
• The bust point on the pattern was too high so I added 1.5″ above the bust to lower it and also add some width for my cup size.
• At 6’2″ I also have very long arms, but it’s always been hard for me to know where that extra length hits relative to people of normal heights. I asked the ladies of the New York Sewcial Hour chat to measure their arms from shoulder to elbow. I added 2″ to the length of the sleeves to hit just below my elbow.
• Like always, I threw out the button placement guide and planned the buttonholes starting with one placed at my full bust.

Tips for sewing the Anthea Blouse

• As far as button front blouses go, the collarless Anthea blouse is a pretty easy sew.
• One watch out when sewing – the instructions for the binding are different for the collar and the sleeves. I unnecessarily understitched the binding at the sleeves because I was still thinking about the collar instructions. No big error, but you can see an extra row of toptstitching there on the outside.