Turquoise Blouse

A while back I showed you a small glimpse of a shirt I'd been working on:

Well, with some minor tweaks I've made another go at the pattern and I'm happy enough with it I traced all of the pattern pieces out onto something that would last a little longer through multiple uses:

 

and now you know what we eat

Now, you may not think cereal boxes are that useful once the cereal is gone, but I beg to differ.  This certainly made cutting out the next blouse much easier and faster.

For the second go at this pattern I bought this lightweight polyester (gasp!) because it was pretty, it was in the clearance bin, and it fit the bill for my needs.  I decided that I needed something that was warm even with 3/4 sleeves and a more open neckline, and since polyester certainly holds in the heat it really fit the bill.

 Unfortunately, I got busy and threw the shirt together so quickly I didn't get any process pictures.  Again, I plan to make several more of these, so I promise to get some better shots on a subsequent attempt.

 

I swear it looks better ON than just on the hanger

One of the major changes that I made from the original was the back. I wanted to maintain the look of a fitted blouse in the front but for my job I need to be able to move freely without worry.  My solution was to add some elastic shirring to the center back right at the waist.  It's only a small section but has greatly improved both the wearability and look of the blouse.

 

One small change that I made was to shift most of the gathers at the shoulder front toward the neckline. I'm not thrilled with how that turned out, and will probably not do that again. Also, in the future I think I might make the ties a little longer in the front.

It's very comfortable and (at least to my eye) flattering. I feel pretty in it, and honestly that's all that really matters :P

I'm hoping to size it up in the future for a couple people I know who might look good in it and am wondering if I was able to make it into a 'real' pattern if anyone would be interested in buying it...

Posting is going to be light for a while, but hopefully soon I'll have some good news to share to explain why. 'Till then quite a bit of my time is going to keeping my head above water, but I'll try to toss in a few posts when I can.

Hope your February is going great!