The Truly Victorian 494 blouse is another pattern I’ve been itching to make. I LOVE those huge leg of mutton sleeves, and all I can hear is Colleen Dewhurst as Marilla Cuthbert saying, “They’re ridiculous, you’ll have to turn sideways to get through the door.”

Last weekend I took a trip to Santa Cruz to Hart’s Fabric with this pattern in mind. I love that store. Since Joann’s closed there’s not much near me where I can go and feel the fabric, so trips to Santa Cruz are special. In the end, I got a lovely blue and white paisley pattern, a navy and white gingham, and a navy plaid style. To go with the shirtwaist, I want to make Bernadette Banner’s ‘Victorian Mob Boss’ skirt and waistcoat in navy, so I thought I’d stick with blues. But those are projects for the future.

Now I have the headache of trying to decide which of those fabrics I want to make the shirtwaist in.

4th September 2025.

Today I picked up the A0 printed TV494 pattern from Staples. I’ve decided I want to modify it (View A) a bit - I want to ditch the waistband, cuffs and peplum, lengthen it about 6 inches, make it more fitted, and not as pouffy. I really want those sleeves to stand out! As I’m a visual learner, I went straight to youtube. I found the perfect video tutorial by American Duchess and she was even doing the same modifications I had in mind, so it was perfect.

The Pattern.

I’m wasn’t really sure what size to cut for my measurements - the instructions weren’t that clear, but I went for size E, and I could crop it down later if I needed to. I made the decision from then on to make a mockup and make changes directly onto the mockup rather than trying to guess it on the pattern. The Closet Historian has gotten me interested in pattern drafting, and I thought I’d give it a shot for this project.

Maybe this was a mistake. It took Forevverrrrr.

Version 1: Size E was far too big and way too short. Everything was off. I jacked it in several inches at the waist and ribs, and added more room at the hips. I also added 4 more inches to the length. The neckline was too tight so I opened that up a bit. Altogether it wasn’t too bad. Much better than I was expecting. A decent start to the project.

5th September 2025.

On the to-do list for today was sorting out the wrinkles at the shoulders and around the armscye. This blouse is meant to come up quite high under the armpit, but I hate that. This kind of fit irritates the pinched nerves in my arm, so all my clothes are super baggy and under the arms. I know this might have consequences for how these big sleeves sit, but I’ll cross that bridge when I come to it.

Version 2: Version 1 was a wee bit too tight over the bust, so I added a bit more room from the side seam. I lowered the fabric at the armpit yet again, and trimmed a little off the front of the armscye. The shoulders were still a bit wonky though.

I didn’t really understand how to add the front facing to make the button/buttonhole sections. The pattern was really confusing. I tried it out a few times without much success. Then there were issues with the cheap fabric I was using as mockup material. Each time I tried to attach the front facing, it came out really wrinkled and distorted, with the facing curving to the side. I tried again, this time ironing it very gently, careful not to stretch the fabric in any way, but it still wrinkled up. I lessened the heat on my iron. Didn’t help.

The last blouse I made was the Truly Victorian Countryside Blouse TVE47 and I remembered the button/hole sections didn’t have a separate facing. You just made the bit in the middle a couple of inches wider and folded it up a couple of times, then topstitched (to be simplistic about it..) Just to make sure I would get the measurements right around the neck, I dug out the other pattern and incorporated it onto the version 2 pattern I’d traced. It sounds simple, but this took ages. I copied the lines for the folds wrong, and I couldn’t work out why the section was turning out weird.

Eventually I saw my mistake and it came good. I went super slowly topstitching on either side of the buttonhole section. It turned out much better, but not as good as I wanted. I’m hoping it’s just the cheap fabric reacting badly under the iron, but I’ll try a small mockup in the actual blouse fabric when the time comes.

Version 3: This version was to combat the wrinkling at the neck/shoulders. It was an easy fix - I just lowered the shoulder seam 1/2 an inch on the front fabric, and the wrinkling was nearly gone. Then on to sorting the excess material at the side seams. I took it in 1/2 an inch on both sides on the front fabric and it fit much better. I could have taken it in a bit more, but given how much I sweat, I don’t think that’s a good idea!

Version 4: By this point I was really starting to flag/get annoyed/want to ditch it altogether...But I wanted to do one more mockup just to be certain before I cut into the actual fancy fabric.

It’s not perfect. Nowhere near it. But I think the busyness of whatever fabric I choose, and those glorious leg of mutton sleeves, will take away from any imperfection in the fit. It’s good enough, and I’m happy with that.

Tomorrow, I plan to sew Version 4 together, and experiment with a sleeve mockup. Because I had to make the armscye so big to accommodate my pinched nerves, I have no idea what size of sleeves I need. Despite feeling a little burnt out this evening (I think I worked for six hours today to get to Version 4), I’m excited to have fun with the sleeves!

I do wonder if drafting it to my body was a mistake given how long it took today, but as The Closet Historian says, once I have this pattern that fits my body well, I wont need to second guess with the printed pattern. I can just go to my Version 4, knowing it’ll turn out great every time.

That’s the hope anyway! It’s still early days. Everything might change when I add the sleeves.

6th September 2025.

Sleeve day! Or so I thought. I carefully traced out size H of the leg of mutton sleeve, sewed in all the gathering stitches and tulle, sewed up the seams and gathered everything I was meant to gather…and the sleeve was far too big to fit into the armscye, no matter how tightly I gathered the gathers. I was pretty disappointed, especially given how excited I was when I was cutting out the sleeve, and visualising it in my head. As my friend so quaintly put it, 'It looks like a swimming pool floatation device’.

There’s no way that leg of mutton sleeve is going to fit!

After that I wasn’t sure what size to cut, so I just cut size A. I started sewing in the gathering stitches at the top of the sleeve when I ran out of thread. Taking it as a sign, I shut it down for the day.

I’m writing this later tonight, and I’m still disappointed and annoyed. I’d forgotten how pesky those kinds of sleeves were, and it makes me wonder if all the work on mockups yesterday was worth it. Did I tell you, I HATE MOCKUPS. I know I’m not the only one. I’ll write about it sometime.

Tomorrow is a new day. I think I’ll cut out my proper fabric for the project and deal with the sleeves when I feel able.

Four months later.

I finished the blouse on the 8th of September. I’ve just been lazy about updating the blog. It turned out amazing and everything I hoped for. Would I make this blouse again? Absolutely! I probably wouldn’t stuff the sleeves with Tulle again as it’s a bit hot and scratchy. I love the silhouette - It transports me to a different world - It’s just a shame I don’t feel I can wear this all the time.

Truly Victorian 1894 Shirtwaist - TV494.

I burnt out on sewing.