MATHILDE : POPPY & HONESTY

Mathilde Blouse by Tilly Walnes
Liberty of London Tana Lawn : Poppy & Honesty
Photos taken at the High Park Cherry Blossom Hill

I’ve been working on my Mathilde blouse for a few weeks now and finally finished it up last night. To celebrate, I woke up super early this morning (6:30am!) and rode my bike over to High Park for a special photo shoot of this lovely top. What a gorgeous way to start the day.

I’ve been wanting to make the blouse for a while and finally got to buying the pdf pattern. This happened to coincide with my discovery of The Great British Sewing Bee (courtesy of some nudging from Guy). First off. Have you watched this amazing series?? You MUST. What a triumphant piece of television that had me on the edge of my seat, cheering and crying over a brilliant group of people SEWING their way through challenges. I won’t give anything away, in case you haven’t seen it. But please do give it a watch! There are just 4 episodes and it is delightful. Through the first episode, I was wondering why one girl seemed familiar and then I realized it was Tilly from Tilly & the Buttons! This got me very inspired to work on my Mathilde while watching each episode.

I’ve been saving this piece of Liberty from our last delivery at the shop. The Poppy & Honesty print was my favourite and in blue & grey, no less!

The blouse fits me perfectly and I love all the details, like the tucks running down the sides of the front and the full, gathered sleeves. Instead of buttons, I chose to do silver snaps down the back and I love how they look with this Liberty print! I’m a sucker right now for snaps. I followed the pattern, almost to the letter. Tilly has the most thorough instructions on her blog that walk you through each part of the process. It really couldn’t be more clear. I will definitely be making more. There are so many easy variations you can make on this pattern.

This is actually the first new clothing pattern that I’ve made in a while (so many Wiksten Tovas & Tanks!), so it was such a treat to finish this project, try it on and be delighted that it all worked out beautifully. At times, I did imagine myself as a contestant on the Great British Sewing Bee while I was making this along with the videos, but I don’t think I’d do well with a timer on my sewing. I really do a lot of dilly dallying while I’m working!

Thanks for the inspiration and fantastic pattern, Tilly!

Also – Congratulations to Lauren, one of the other contestants on the GBSB, she just opened up her own sewing shop, Guthrie & Ghani! Clearly, it’s time to take a trip to the UK!