My Sewing Pattern Hoard: Blouses

Spring has been doing that sneaky thing it tends to do at this time of year. Kind of popping up for a day and allowing us to get our hopes up, then disappearing for another week of grey, chilliness and rain. But those Spring glimpses have been wonderful and inevitably got me thinking about Spring/Summer wardrobes and the things I'd like to make and wear. One of my favourite sub-catagories of S/S clothing is blouses. I really like little retro, form-fitting blouses. The right style shows off my shape nicely and their structure usuallly creates a more flattering effect than T-shirts do. Lots of fun can be had with prints, buttons, piping, contrast sections and colour.

Time for me to rummage through the 'shelves of joy' which house my hoard of sewing patterns. I haven't got a lot of time for random sewing projects for myself these days, so your thoughts on which patterns merit a creation are very welcome. For lack of any other method, this batch from my sewing pattern hoard are very vaguely in date order, starting with the oldest.

This early 50s blouse is really lovely, but perhaps not quite my style? It's got a very cute little collar and front pleat or shoulder gather detailing. I'm thinking print rather than solid?

I'm very drawn to View B on this pattern pictured above. I LOVE that collar and can imagine Rizzo wearing something similar, though probably in black. Actually, I love this pattern so much that I've already cut it out in fabric. But evidentally not enough to have ignored the Winter weather around me and actually sewn it together! I not have started making this yet, but I'm pretty convinced it is NOT 'instant' though! I'm sure I'll get round to tackling this eventually. I've cut it out in a floral print, but I'd also like to see what it's like in a stripe with the direction doing something interesting on the collar.

I cannot believe no-one challenged my bid for this on eBay. Hello? Where were you?! Well, your loss... Only joking! It's nice though, eh? Not wildely dissimilar to the pattern above it, but with the all-important addition of grown-on, kimono style sleeves! Which is great and all, but we all know how much fabric those take up! Which version would you make and in what type of fabric?

You may recognise this pattern pictured above from a past creation. That's right, with considerable fit-tweeking, it became my Corazones Rockabilly blouse. Oh, how cute was my hair back then?! The other two views look appealing too: I feel there is a lot that could be done with piping on View A and a contrast collar for View B would be good.

I don't recall buying the pattern above, but I guess I must have. I did actual half-make View A before giving up. It was going really well, but it became apparent that the fabric I was using (really nasty 60s synthetic stuff) was going to feel horrible to wear AND be very see-through. This really isn't my 'style era' anymore, but the gathered neckline and roll collar of View A did look good, so I'm hanging on to this for potential future endeavours.

I'm not sure if the above garment is meant to be a jacket or a blouse, but I guess that's all relative to the type of fabric it's made up in. I kind of hate myself for being into something that is so 'on-trend right now', but I'm really into 70s style peplums at the moment, which is evident from the collection I've snaffled from eBay recently. How would you approach this pattern? I'm thinking a solid colour with contrast buttons? Turquoise and red maybe?

See? More peplums. But I think the genius of this particular garment lies in those crazy sleeve cuffs!!! Totally diner waitress. All sorts of contrast magic could be worked on this. But would you be able to fit a cardigan over those sleeves? Maybe a bolero shrug might make it over them.

Yet MORE peplum madness!!! I love this sun top for so many reason though, not just the peplum. I HAVE to make this for this coming Summer. Those few hot days that the UK achieves, and BAM! I'll be ready with this. But what to make it in? Thoughts please!

This is so 'Nine to Five' era, isn't it?! But look! View 4, it's got soooo much diner waitress potential hasn't it? Maybes some contrast collar and sleeve cuff action would really make my waitress uniform dreams come true. I love it in the stripes too, but unfortunately I don't have enough stripey fabric in my stash for this.

I don't remember buying this pattern either, but once again clearly I did. If you squint, you can't see the floral waterfall ruffle version quite so clearly and you can focus more of your attention to the cap sleeved view they've rendered in red polka dots. Although I've got a really high natural waist, I think I could adapt this and 'make it work'. A liberal smattering of contrast piping around the waist panel and on the collar and sleeve edges would really make this design pop.

A ha! This little blouse pattern is a tried and tested gem. From a 2008 edition of Burda magazine, I've used it twice before, once for my Bird blouse and then again with fit adjustments for the Ship Shape blouse. I've loved that Ship Shape blouse so hard that the collar has begun to fray and the printed design on the buttons is wearing off. I think, out of all of them, this blouse pattern would be the best one for encorporating small bits of amazing fabric that you don't quite have enough of for an entire blouse. I can feel another one of these blouses coming on...

Ah, the Sencha. It barely needs an introduction. As previous explained, I've altered and simplified this pattern so that I'm really happy with it. But seeing as the blue printed version didn't fit my best mate, I've got it back for when I loose enough of my Christmas-belly to make use of it. With that and my Sailor Sencha, I'm not sure I need another of this style. I'm unlikely to stop making them for other people though!

As I say, any thoughts, insights or over-views you have about these patterns, please don't be afraid to pipe up!