Burda Ribbon Neck Blouse 12/2013 #107 for Elsa

Do you ever just want to sew something pretty or unusual?
It is not needed or requested, you just like it.
Case in point.

I saw this very pretty #107 Blouse while perusing Burda.

I just liked the design and thought it would be fun to sew.

I had the left over fabric from Tildy's dress and thought it would be perfect.
It is a polyester crepe in a pale pink $4/m from Eliza Fabrics

So I made it.

The pattern comes as a PDF. It glues together nicely with big overlap allowances.
There are no seam allowances or hems, you have to add those.
I decided to cut the smallest size (34/36) around a size 6, I added the seam allowance (1 cm) and the hems and centre front facing (3cm) before cutting the paper pattern.
You are giving measurements to cut the cuffs and neck tie bias strip.

I topstitched the back and front seams and sewed a narrow, double hem.

The sleeve placket is made from the seam allowance.

I folded, pressed and stitched a narrow, double hem.
One side of the cuff is interfaced.
I went with two buttons and used some gorgeous, knotted hessian ones.

Now Elsa put up her hand for it but she is in Town so Lidia modelled it for me.
Her skirt is Lekala #5264 which I made for her to wear with her waistcoat.

The blouse is full but elegantly so.

It has a 'Moneypenny' vibe to it.

~Elsa's Verdict~
To be advised...
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~My Verdict~
This was a fun sew.
I saw this blouse a month or so back and was waiting for a sale (Burda frequently has one) %30 off for St Patricks day.
The pasting and adding seams was a bit of a pain but I used to sew TopKids so I got into the zone pretty quickly.
The instructions were okay. I like the way the tie is constructed.
The neck binding is sewn, then you sew the ties right side together, trim, turn and then finish binding the neck edge.

Weirdly, I ended up with excess fabric under one of the arms.
As the cuff and hem were finished I couldn't trim the excess away.

So I unpicked the seam and eased the excess in.

It meant my under arm seam didn't quite match up but I don't think that will matter.
I suspect the bias sleeve stretched out.

Image from Pinterest.

There is just enough fabric left to make a top, I am looking for a pattern like this.
But for now, I will take a break and sew with some natural fibre.

Thank you for reading... xx N