Thanks everyone for your lovely comments on my Qiana maxi dress! It is definitely a new favorite and I know I'm going to wear it a lot.
I've been browsing through my patterns lately, with an eye toward one that would make the perfect gingham blouse.
This one totally wasn't even on my radar, until I saw
ManiMayor's review on PR.
Her version was so lovely, I knew I needed one of my own.
The pattern is from the
10/2010 issue of Burdastyle magazine. It has three different views in the magazine, each view with a different tie. It is a very basic blouse with little in the way of shaping, set in sleeves, and a bias bound, gathered neckline with a slit. The fabric I used is a stretch cotton from FabricMart. It reads as a gingham at a glance, but is actually an even plaid.
When I first put it on Sandra Dee, I thought I had a total wadder on my hands. It was seriously frumpy and sacklike. Fortunately, I had a belt lying around and popped it on. With some waist definition, I think it is pretty darn cute.
The only changes I made to the pattern were to the neckline. Several of the reviewers on PR mentioned that the slit was quite low, so I didn't even bother transferring the marking per the pattern. I just marked the slit where I wanted it while I was tissue fitting. Burda has you put the button on the inside, but I found a cute one that matched, so I sewed it on the outside instead.
For the tie, Burda's instructions called for the neckline to be finished with the bias strip, then for the tie to be topstitched on between the two shoulder seams. I didn't think this gave it a very nice finish, so I sandwiched the tie in between the neckline of the top and the bias strip and stitched them together to enclose the tie with the neckline. It looks very nice both inside and out.
The other major change I made was to make the tie significantly smaller. I cut the width in half and shortened the tie so that when tied in a bow, the ends fell at my waist. The original tie is really huge, and since my fabric already had a lot of body, it was really overwhelming. I think it would have worked in a softer, more draping fabric though.
It passes the sleeping baby test of comfort.
I had fun taking some pictures with different bottoms. I don't generally wear my tops tucked in, but this one has a good shape for it. The bottoms I paired it with are;
McCalls 5592 white jeans,
New Look 6816 silk pants,
McCalls 3830 pencil skirt and
black knit column skirt (pulled up to midi length). I'm kinda partial to the short black pencil skirt look myself. What do you think?
