Project MyWay #18–Silver Charmeuse Blouse

I did it again–we were invited to a holiday party last Saturday night and I spent all day Friday and Saturday making an outfit to wear (this blouse with the black velvet jeans in the previous post). I guess I work better under pressure, but just once I’d like to have my outfit ready and hanging in the closet while I take a leisurely bath and get ready to go. Happily my outfit did turn out great and I’m sure I’ll wear it a few times this season.

I saw a beautiful Tadashi blouse on Neiman Marcus.com and fiddled around with Vogue 7906 to get a similar look.

 

I added another pleat to the shawl collar, sewed up the center front instead of using buttons, omitted the front darts and made tie ends that I sewed into the side seams. It was an easy alteration and if you’d like pictures and detailed instructions, just say so and I’ll add them to this post.

I experimented with pleating the fullness at the center back neck until I got the look I wanted and then stitched the pleats:

 

My Bernina has been in the repair shop for 5 (!) weeks. After 3 weeks I was going into withdrawals and I purchased a used Pfaff for $30 from Craig’s List. It’s a nice, sturdy mechanical machine and it will be a great back-up when I get my Bernina back. Unfortunately, it’s an older model and sews a 4-step buttonhole. The buttonholes don’t turn out nearly as nice as my Bernina’s one step buttonholer. So, I’ve been avoiding buttonholes other than the odd buttonhole for a waist finish.

I didn’t want to put cuffs with buttonholes on my blouse so instead I used the sleeve from View B (flared at the bottom edge) and pleated the fullness in at the wrist. I finished the bottom with a facing.

 

Ta-ta for now!