Friday Pattern Company Sagebrush Top and Fibre Mood Norma Blouse Mash Up

The idea…

The Sagebrush Top by Friday Pattern Company has been on my ‘to make’ list for a little while now but with autumn and the colder months coming up I wondered how much wear I’d get out of it if I made it with the short, possibly cardigan unfriendly sleeve. So I started to think of ways I could adapt the pattern slightly to add a longer sleeve instead and that’s when the Fibre Mood Norma Blouse came to mind.

Secret Life of a Seamstress — FPC Sagebrush Top

I absolutely love the Fibre Mood Norma blouse too and it’s another one that’s been on my list for a while but I’d not yet got around to trying. The sleeves are what drew me to this pattern in the first place so, since I think we can all agree, autumn 2020 is going to be all about the sleeve, I thought I’d try adding the Norma sleeve onto the Sagebrush bodice and see how it worked.

Fibre Mood are actually offering the Norma pattern as a PDF for free using the code #normahack so even better to try it out now. I also bought the Sagebrush Top as a PDF so I spent a happy hour or so assembling my patterns while watching my favourite sewing YouTube channels.

The Patterns…

I love the style of Fibre Mood patterns but one thing I find a tad awkward is that the seam allowance isn’t included on the PDF pattern so you need to add that onto either your pattern or your fabric before cutting. I added mine onto my assembled PDF sheet before cutting out the pattern piece. Something to note and remember if you’ve not used their patterns before as I managed to miss this step the first time I tried a Fibre Mood pattern and ended up with a dress that was a little too short!

This was actually the first time I’ve used a Friday Pattern Company pattern and I am really impressed with how clear the instructions were. There are instructions for printing the PDF as well as how to assemble the garment which is always helpful.

The fabric…

I used a beautiful woven crepe ditsy floral fabric for my top from Stoff and Stil. If you watch my YouTube channel you may remember this from my recent fabric haul video. I absolutely love this print, and the colours in it. Unfortunately I couldn’t find this exact fabric to link but I’ve found similar here. Stoff and Still are nailing the autumn fabrics this season in my opinion – I could literally have one of everything (or around 2.5 metres of everything 😉

I only had one and a half metres of the fabric and it was just enough to squeeze in the extra oversized sleeve! I pre-washed and ironed my fabric before cutting as always and cut out using a cutting board and rotary cutter.

The thumbnail from my YouTube video showing this lovely fabric up close

The construction…

There are some patterns that are just really lovely to put together and I found the Sagebrush top to be one of them, it came together really quickly and easily but there are some lovely stages in there to really hold your interest, such as the yoke frill and the pretty bias bound neckline.

I made no alterations to either the Norma sleeve or the armhole and found there to be no problem adding it in on the round as usual which was lucky as I pretty much winged this part and hadn’t done any measuring or anything to check. The gathered cuff of the Norma blouse is really what drew me to this pattern in the first place, I just think it looks so pretty and delicate. The bottom of the sleeve is gathered into the cuff and then sewn around. This stage was a little bit fiddly but with a bit of extra care and a lot of pins I got there in the end.

I couldn’t resist a little try on half way through sewing

The bodice of the top actually came up really long on me and I wanted it cropped to sit on my hips untucked so I chopped off about 10cm in length and then turned up a 2cm hem. I love the look of the blouse cropped as I think it suits the amount of volume there is in the bodice.

Final thoughts…

I absolutely LOVE how this top turned out. It’s easily one of my most favourite tops I’ve ever made and I’m sure I’ll get lots of wear out of it during this colder season whether under a cardigan or with a ¾ sleeve warm t shirt underneath.

The Sagebrush top instructions are very thorough and comprehensive and I really enjoyed putting the bodice of this blouse together. I’ll definitely try another Sagebrush with the correct sleeves at some point but maybe more towards the warmer months. I’m also really excited to make a ‘proper’ Norma blouse too because I can’t get enough of this sleeve! I’m also thinking that this hack would make a lovely dress – something to try soon maybe.

I highly recommend both of these patterns and hacked together they work beautifully!