#violetblouse

Ohhh, Colette's Violet blouse. I've been wanting to make this one for a long time. 

I *love* this pattern. Peter Pan collar, blousy fit, super-girly gathers, buffet-friendly shape, I'm down.

Things I did: I used a lightweight cotton with a woven gray and black stripe for the body. It said Moda on it, so I guess it was a quilting cotton? Anyway, it had soft, swishy drape and I liked the striping a lot, so I went for it, piecing the yoke so I could get a little chevron going with the shoulder slopes. I used some black cotton batiste for a contrast collar and sleeve bands.

I used self-fabric for interfacing throughout. I cut a straight 4 for this top, and saw no changes I needed to make with a tissue-fitting, though now I'm sort of feeling like I need to pull the bust darts back a little bit to help them lie smoother.

The biggest change I made was gathering sleeves into a band instead of threading elastic through them or simply hemming them. To do this, I cut the wider mid-length sleeve and cut it shorter, to approximately 1" above where I wanted the sleeve to fall. I measured my bicep, added a bit for ease and seam allowances, and cut 3 1/4" x 13 1/4" bands (two for each sleeve) from the batiste. I prepped the two bands for each sleeve as one, pressed each in half lengthwise, and turned down a 3/8" hem on one side. I stitched the unpressed side RST with the bottom of the sleeve, pressed it down, and topstitched to catch the back of the sleeve band. Then I sewed the side sleeve seam in one go.

Confusing enough? It sounds really confusing written out, but it was easy, just like putting on a front band or a cuff. I love how clean it looks, and how those two little echoing pops of contrast color add a little visual structure. 

Things I wish I'd done: Next time, I'll construct this like a men's shirt, flat-felling the armscye and sleeve seams, for simplicity. OH and I'll actually put the buttons on the correct side—I'm so used to making shirts for Terry that I just automatically went for it without paying attention.