Blouse #7 // Refashion #27 :: Minnali

All this talk of Ridiculous, and I go and make a Summer Essential! Well, as "essential" as a cornflower blue blouse with white lacy collar edging can be ... especially given that this is actually my second cornflower blue blouse with white lacy collar edging. You can't say the girl isn't consistent! And anyways I was warning Ali that I might actually be engaging in a Summer (non)Essential Sew-Along, since I haven't the faintest bit of "basics" planned for this summer but rather a smorgasbord of stuff that fits what I'm currently into at the moment.

So, without further ado, my latest refashion, brought to you by the lovely and talented ladies Minnado and Ali, Blouse #7 // Refashion #27 :: Minnali.


Based off my sloper pattern, I stitched everything up and took it in at all sorts of areas (extra 1/8" at the front darts, extra 1/4" at the bottom of each dart, lowered that bust dart by 2", took in the bottom side seams by 1/4" each side, scooped out a wide neck). It was thanks to Ali that I took the class in the first place, and many thanks to Debbie for sending me the beautiful, beautiful lace - it totally makes this blouse ... makes it special, makes it me. And the tribute cycles back to Ali, who initially gave me the inspiration for the lace collar way long ago (although check out that cardigan by Debbie! Wowzers).


Swapped out the buttons for some cornflower blue ones I picked up at Joanns. I was walking in front of a coworker and she commented, "I really want to turn your blouse around. The buttons bother me; they remind me of a button up." Hm ... I guess it still looks like a button-up from behind! (She said this in the friendliest possible way - we had our summer interns with us that day and there were about 6 of us joking around. I always think its nice for interns to see that the people they work with/for are actually decent human beings with a sense of humor!)

You can see that there's still some major blousiness going on in the front and back. I think I like the look well enough, but I'm not sure. Luckily, as I've said before, I don't have to see myself from behind! Usually a tend to wear blouses that give me some sort of illusion of an hourglass, so wearing something that makes me look like a bit of a square is ... a step out of the comfort zone, I suppose. In a good way. Truth be told, I just keep staring at the collar and all my small quibbles with fit go straight out the window.


Can I admit to being slightly ridiculous when it comes to garment making? I probably spent 5 hours handstitching down that lace. Yes, 5 hours. That's one afternoon at Ali's place + 1.5 Masterpiece mystery movies. But I love how it turned out. I also have this thing where I hate dealing with ease in a sleevecap so I like to pleat out the ease at the very top. I think it makes for a nice detail.


All in all, I'd say this was not bad for my first "wearable" type muslin of my blouse sloper. I plan to continue tinkering away, and this initial run has me thinking about what I'd do differently next time. I need to scoop out more for those armholes for sure, it's a bit constricting for arm movements as is, at the moment. And there's some blousiness in the upper back I'd like to remove, and I'll probably pull it in more at the waist.

I wore this to work on Monday and my coworker said, "Did you make that? That looks like something you'd make." Which I take as a compliment, because I think it says more about cultivating a distinctive style than about handiwork (at least that's what I tell myself!) and because its nice to think how well we can express our personalities through this act of creation and creativity. It's fun to think how three of us all used the same lace in similar but distinctive ways, ways that show off our individual personalities I think ...