A summer blouse

I have wanted to make this summer blouse from Heather Ross's Weekend Sewing from the moment I got the book.  I love this book and have made so many things from it over the last year, but this blouse had mixed reviews from the many people who made it and I hesitated.

However, I kept coming back to the picture in the book and the many fine examples on the Flickr group.  I really wanted one of my own.

The criticisms centred around:

• the placket - too low
• the sleeves - too long
• the length of the top - too short
• the ncekline - too high

But what I really appreciate about Heather's book is that she assumes you will adjust the patterns, and she makes it easy for you to do so.  Indeed when you are sewing clothes, rather than buying them, the great benefit is that you can adjust them to fit and look exactly how you want.

I traced the pattern, and then looked at the pieces and made some adjustments.

• I made the front and back 8cm longer
• I adjusted the front neckline a tiny bit - by tracing the pattern line slightly lower(about 1cm I guess)
• I lopped 12cm off the placket

I left the sleeves as they were because I have long arms, and like my sleeves to come well over my wrists, as they do in the photo of the blouse in the book, but in the end I cut off 4cm when the blouse was finished - they did come out very long.

The main fabric I used is an old Amy Butler one - as ever my choice for a first attempt was determined primarily by what fabric I had enough of.  It is a green and purple flower print in quilting-weight cotton, and works well.  A lawn or voile would be even nicer, so I am now saving up even more determinedly for some of that Anna Maria Horner fabric I have been dreaming of for what seems like so long (but in fact must only be a few weeks).

The contrast fabric is by Phillip Jacobs for Rowan.  It is the geranium leaf pattern in the bravely named 'sludge' colourway.  I just love this fabric - despite its off-putting name.  I bought it to make a jewellery roll for my mother-in-law at Christmas, because she requested something in purple, and when it arrived I immediately wanted to make so many things with it.

Weekend Sewing is aptly named because you could very easily make this blouse in a weekend.  I made it in a day, including the slow pattern tracing, and rummaging on the internet for tips on adjustments.  I love how it looks - the swingy shape, the long sleeves, the simple, open neckline.  I will wear it and wear it (and make a whole lot more of them).

The final adjustment I made was to hem the wrists and the bottom with the contrasting binding rather than just a plain hem.  I do love that geranium fabric.

The only thing I would do differently next time is to miss off the button loop - which was fiddly anyway.  The shirt doesn't need closing, and the neckline hangs open so beautifully to reveal the contrasting fabric.  It is simply a lovely, wearable design.