Hi, Marie-Paule here from So Popo Sew.
When Marte called out to bloggers world wide for a special action, I was more than thrilled to register and even happier to find out that the action would be about the Mara Blouse. I have already sewn several Compagnie M patterns and I already had the Mara pattern printed and waiting to be used. This was just the ideal opportunity to get it started! Leaving for our holidays, I packed my sewing machine and serger and the necessary fabrics (of course I am taking these on my holidays. Imagine 2 weeks without sewing!).
As with all Compagnie M patterns, you can chose several versions and even mix&match with other patterns, but I decided to go for what is probably the most sewn Mara blouse, with the piping for contrast and the butterfly sleeve.


(Oh, the trousers were based on an Ottobre pattern) The blue fabric with flowers was in my stash for quite a while already. As the bib front with the buttons gives the Mara a certain retro touch, I decided to accentuate this feature with a white fabric and contrasting yellow piping and matching biais for the finishing touch.

My little girl likes the buttons!

Getting back home after 2 weeks, and since I had so much fun sewing the Mara blouse, I realized that I still had some time to sew a second version and I wanted to give it a special twist. Mara had taught me the art of smocking during a workshop and one of my own favorite blouses has a smocked hem. Inspired by my blouse, I decided to do the same on the Mara (also because the first blouse that I have sewn is rather wide for my little angel)… To find out that I was not the first one with this idea, because in the meantime, Bellelien had already posted her guest post with the exact same twist.
Nevertheless, I continued with my initial plan and I’m even more excited how this turned out.


And so is my little one!

If you are interested to see more of my work, please visit: sopoposew.blogspot.com.