Wearing History “Smooth Sailing” Blouse Review

Wearing History “Smooth Sailing” blouse made from the excellent printed pattern, worn with the ready-to-wear “Smooth Sailing” jeans. The pattern also contains piece for these pants.

Late last year I made my first “Smooth Sailing” blouse from the famous Wearing History pattern, but I forgot to blog about it! Wardrobe staples like trousers and blouses aren’t as exciting to read about as giant 1760s gowns or 1880s day dresses, but I do make quite a lot more of these vintage wardrobe items these days.

I’m a big fan of Wearing History for many reasons, not least of all because it’s a small, independent business founded by an incredibly skilled woman, and I like to support entrepreneurs in our niche hobby. But that being said, the product has to be good for me to get behind it. And this product is good.

Wearing History offers their patterns as both printed and e-pattern inst-download (the kind you print out and tape together).  I’ve used both, and I will say right now – get the printed patterns, especially with blouses/shirts with collars. Lauren puts a ton of work into testing and mocking up her patterns, and I’ve been guilty of badly taping one of the e-patterns together and negating all that hard work through my small but many errors. I would rather wait for the postman to bring me the perfect printed packet (on nice paper, too, not tissue) and know all those pieces will fit together as intended than to spend an evening printing and lining up and taping and cutting and cursing just to save a few bucks.

Buy the printed patterns. They’re splendid.

So because I have the Smooth Sailing Sporting Togs pattern pack, I knew I could just pull it out, cut the blouse, and go. I stitched the blouse together in an evening (yes, really!), and found the instructions very clear and easy to follow. It came out perfectly (and pretty much nothing I sew comes out perfectly, so this is a big deal for me!) – fit, sleeves, collar, all perfect!

The resulting blouse is easy to wear and quintessentially vintage, with adorable puff sleeves and a gathered yoke. I made mine in cotton, but plan to make more in rayon or silk, for a future Agent Carter wardrobe.

Needless to say, I highly recommend this pattern!

You can see all of Wearing History’s printed patterns here.
The e-patterns are here.
The Smooth Sailing Pattern is here – it comes with trousers, option for shorts, and the blouse.