Love Notions Rhapsody Blouse and Dress | Sewing Pattern Review

Sharing is caring!

This is definitely one of my all-time, favourite sewing patterns. Here is a review of the Love Notions Rhapsody Blouse and Dress.

I pretty. much sew most of my own clothes right now. I find the fit better and pretty much anything I see in a store or online, I can find a sewing pattern to replicate it. But before all this, I was an avid shopper. Some of my favourite ready-to-wear stores included Ann Taylor and the Loft.

I had a favourite style blouse from these stores. I remember always waiting for them to be marked down and hoping I’d find it in my size – I wasn’t always so lucky. Actually, truth be told – I was rarely lucky.

I was thrilled to discover that I could pretty much make the same blouse with the Love Notions Rhapsody Blouse and Dress pattern.

Love Notions Rhapsody Blouse and Dress Pattern

The Rhapsody pattern is a lovely, semi-fitted blouse and dress pattern. It features a yoke and a v-neck.

This pattern has 9 different sleeve options! So there’s something for any time of the year. The options include:

• sleeveless
• cap sleeve
• short sleeve
• flutter sleeve
• 3/4 sleeve with cuff
• 3/4 flared sleeve
• 3/4 bishop sleeve
• trumpet sleeve
• full-length bishop sleeve

There is also a dress option which I love.

For those that need it, there is a full bust option as well – so need to do your own adjustments.

Fabric Options

The Love Notions Rhapsody pattern is intended for lightweight woven fabrics with drape. Some good options include:

• rayon, rayon crepe, rayon challis
• gauze
• polyester
• chiffon
• viscose

Things to look out for include the sheerness of the fabric, and as mentioned, the drape.

Sewing Pattern Review

While the Love Notions Rhapsody pattern is not too difficult, it is not a beginner pattern. The challenging aspects include the use of double-fold binding (either store-bought or make your own).

There are 4 main pattern pieces – the bodice front, bodice back, yoke and sleeve (if you are adding sleeves). Be sure to cut 2 yoke pieces.

The assembly is quite standard. The double yoke can be a bit tricky if you haven’t done it before. Be sure to read the directions about how to roll it up so that you can sew the shoulder seams properly.

Sewing Tips and Shortcuts for the Love Notions Rhapsody Pattern

To be honest, when it comes to sewing patterns, I often look for shortcuts. The shortcuts work and just make the garment sewing a little faster and possibly easier.

• Short on fabric? Cut only 1 yoke. Sew it to the back bodice and just sew it to the front bodice using the shoulder seams.

• I do not do the French seams. As I have a serger, I simply use that and use a slightly bigger seam allowance to make up for it. That said, I will say that a French seam does leave a nice, clean finish. I’m just too lazy.

• I like to gather using my serger. There is just a bit of gathering on the shoulder seams of the front bodice, as well as just a bit on the sleeves to help ease them in. Gathering using my serger has been a game-changer for me.

• Use a double-fold binder with your cover stitch machine. This made the binding much easier.
  – To do this, I first cut a long length of fabric for my binder attachment. For my Babylock, it needs to be 1.5 inches. I draped it around my neck and clipped or mark with chalk, approximately where the neckline starts on the Rhapsody.
  – Then I fed the fabric through the double fold binding attachment and let it go to make the binding. When it got to the point where the neckline started, then I fed the blouse through. Once it is done, you will continue on with just the binding, until you reach the end.
  – Once complete, you just need to trim the ties so that they are equal in length and then knot the ends.
  
• Slippery or hard to work with fabric? When fabric gives me trouble like this, I prefer to do a simple rolled hem on my serger. Not only is this quicker, but sometimes it can be tricky to work with a curved hem.

While I wouldn’t say that this is an easy pattern, I really do love it. It’s the perfect work or casual work blouse. Depending on your climate, it works well with a cardigan and can be worn multiple seasons. I have made so many of these blouses and I always receive compliments – many think that it is store-bought!

Here are 3 sleeve options that I made: sleeveless, long-sleeved and flutter sleeved.

The dress option is also lovely. I opted to do some shirring for the waistband as I not only like the look, but it is actually quite comfortable as it creates a nice, wide waistband. Check out my post, All About Shirring, here.

Want to remember this sewing pattern review of the Love Notions Rhapsody Blouse? Be sure to save this to your favourite Pinterest board.