My obsession for flamingo-print clothing continues, with this summery Datura blouse sewn a few years ago already!

When the first Rifle Paper Co. fabric collection was released back in 2016 (the famous “Les Fleurs” collection for Cotton & Steel), it was apparently so successful that it was immediately out of stock everywhere. Remember this floral rayon that was on every blog at the time? As for me, no surprises here, I only had eyes for the flamingo-print cotton lawn, in which I was dreaming to sew a long-sleeved Mélilot shirt.

Alas, despite spending hours searching online, I couldn’t find it anywhere. All the fabric shops I knew of were out, with no restock date in sight. Was I already too late? Without much conviction, I hopped on a bus to Gather Here (I was still living in Boston at the time) and there is was! All the floral rayons were sold out, of course, but there was still a little bit left of the flamingo fabric! Not much though, barely a yard… And with a width of 45”, no hope of getting a Mélilot out of it.

I still bought the leftover yard (better safe than sorry), and I looked for a pattern that would be less fabric-hungry. The Datura blouse is pretty good for this: since its back is not cut on the fold and the yoke can me made out of contrasting fabric, it’s perfect to use up scraps. With a little bit of Tetris, I had just enough fabric to cut the whole thing, except for the yoke lining that I cut out of a white cotton voile (which also helped with the sheerness of the fabric).

With that little margin of error, though, there was no way I could match the print, and the yoke seam was super obvious and not in a good way. So I added a bit of piping last-minute, a tiny leftover from this navy Chardon skirt that I didn’t know what to do with. Three metallic-looking plastic buttons from my stash, and voilà!

I’m not used to buying the latest trendy fabrics: Workroom Social collections, the new Katie Kortman or Ruby Star Society prints, or the latest Atelier Brunette rayon… it all kind of passes me by. Not that I’m particularly trying to go against the grain, it’s just that my projects often start with a specific sewing pattern and I’m almost never inspired by fabric alone. This one being the exception! And I have to say that it’s pretty fun, for once, to see after the fact what some of my favorite bloggers chose to sew from the same fabric: Allie J. made pajamas, Lauren (Lladybird) a button-down shirt, and Amanda from Bimble Pimble actually made a Datura blouse as well! Do you ever fall for a trendy fabric and buy it without a project in mind?


Flamingo Datura
Datura – Deer&Doe
Size 38, lengthened by 2 cm
Rifle Paper Co. Cotton Lawn – Available on Fabric.com

Sewing

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