all dressed up and nowhere to go

Here it is, a new blouse fresh off the sewing machine. I absolutely love it and am so happy to have worked on something other than a dress because, well, I do make a lot of dresses. This blouse is loosely based on an Urban blouse I saw online. I made the pattern myself combining and modifying three patterns I had lying around. It has puff sleeves and pleats under the yokes. The blouse has lace trim at the edge of the front and back yokes and at the bottom of the sleeves (and I learned the hard way that the lace and my iron are not friends... some seam ripping and fresh lace was in order). There are pretty secondhand pink and gold buttons down the front, and little white buttons on the sleeves.


The puff sleeves are from the JJ Blouse pattern from BurdaStyle. It's seriously the best ever free pattern. I've used it quite a few times, but haven't added the bottom band of the sleeve before. In the past I've left off the band and just sewn in a hem and added some elastic. Well, as you can see I finally took the plunge. I don't know what I was afraid of (the instructions are a bit confusing). They were easy enough and the result is neat and pretty.

Anyway, I'm pretty excited to wear this blouse. I have the bad habit of spending lots of time on projects and then not getting much actual wear out of them. I think this blouse will be different though. It's comfortable and pairs well with black pants.

And a preview of what's to come. Adorable, tiny purple polka dots and I'm considering increasing the cute factor with heart shaped buttons (too much?). I have another blouse in mind so now I'm off to work on it!