Burdastyle magazine 04/2011-105 blouse and Sewaholic Renfrew sweater

Most of the blogs I follow are sewing and crafting blogs, but a few style blogs have managed to stay in my reader. One of them is Pink Avenue. I know Corinne in real life, which makes it even more fun to follow her blog, but I also really love her style, and I get a lot of inspiration from her. When I saw this post, I knew I needed a leopard print blouse and red sweater. Stat.

Even better that it's still Jungle January! Perfect!

For the blouse, I wanted something with minimal shaping, but still not bulky so I could wear it layered. Initially I thought about the Grainline Archer. It looks great on everyone! But as I was perusing some back issues of Burdastyle magazine, blouse 105 from the 04/2011 issue caught my eye.

It has very sleek lines - just a bust dart for shaping, lined shoulder yokes that wrap to the front and a nice shaped hemline.

The collar has a stand, which is a nice feature. The cuffs are interesting. There is no placket and the cuff is left open, giving it a slit effect. You may notice that I chose pearl buttons for this. Thanks to my social media buddies for weighing in!

The cuff opens over the thumb, and the sleeves are quite long, so the cuff comes down to cover the hand. When I first put this on, I thought that would annoy me and get in the way, but the slit is in a very functional location and keeps the cuff out of the way as I work.

The back yoke is fairly high, and the back is cut without an ease pleat. The fit is comfortable though, even without the pleat and I really like the sleek look.

From the side, you can see that there is very little waist shaping. The shaping in back is all in the yoke seam, although between the bust dart and the yoke shaping, the fit through the shoulders and upper chest is very nice, which allows the rest of the blouse to drape attractively.

The fabric I used is a rayon challis from FabricMart. I don't know why I haven't made more blouses out of challis! This is so soft and comfortable to wear and the drape is really lovely, especially in this unfitted style.

The sweater is another Sewaholic Renfrew. I've made so many of these, I didn't think it deserved a separate post. This is the long sleeve version with a v neck. I used a very thin Hatchi knit from fabric.com. It's actually sheer enough that you can see the leopard print right through it, but it is rather soft and cozy.

The knit was so unstable that I used red rib knit for the bands. I was pleased to find I had a rib knit that coordinated exactly in my stash! I'm trilled that I got this outfit out of my head and into my closet so quickly, and even more pleased that my stash provided all the materials I needed.