I have just finished the two blouses highlighted in the post “Reincarnating closet gems” featured previously.

I showed earlier how to copy a much loved vintage piece and I finished that post with a wearable muslin of the design. Today I feature variations of the design using the design fabric I had initially intended to use.

Firstly is a printed cotton voile, bought on my recent trip to the Paris fabric market – not for everyone I suspect – but I love its vintage feel to the design and feel it could be straight from the 40-50′s.

The treatment was to make the ties more of a feature therefore I changed so they would be wider with point finished ends and gathered into the neck, which has been lightly interfaced. This means I can leave loose for a more relaxed look or tie in a bow for a more severe take. I also changed the cuff detail adding a deeper two button interfaced cuff – black crystal buttons – love;

and widened the sleeve, down the length, for more gathers giving a bell cuff effect.

Second up is a fine printed silk bought as a remnant- this is so lightweight that on a number of occasions I was tempted to throw in the towel and just make a scarf! First trial was making up self fabric bias trim as I did not want any interfacing in the garment due to its shear-ness and weight. This was fiddly in the extreme.

The collar and ties are the bias trim, as is the front opening notch and placket and I finished the sleeves with the binding also. I lengthened and widened the sleeves and fixed a bow detail. There is no opening for the cuff and they just slip on. With this one I finished a lot of the work by hand as the machine stitches are a bit ruthless with this fabric and I suspected if I had to rip any out then that could be fatal!

Both blouses finish at hip level as I intend to wear them loose over jeans, however because both are very lightweight they can be worn tucked in to a skirt or trousers for work without adding bulk to the waistline. All internal seams are French seams.

The fabrics are lovely to wear and all in all I am very pleased (see expression!) with the result. I wanted to make something in a shear floaty fabric for a long time, more for the experience of working with them than anything else and this was the perfect exercise and I now feel more confident for future similar projects.

I hope this inspires to get out of your comfort zone once in a while – In any event, one can never have too many scarf’s