I really fancied the JJ blouse but not very sure about all the frills on the front so I opted for one row although I have made the other pieces up.

About three years ago I bought myself a new "all sing and dancing" machine so I've now decided to see what it does. The seams on the blouse aren't neaten on the inside, as I used a decorative stitch on the front and back princess seams. I was lucky as the stitch caught the edges on the unfinished edge on the wrong side. As I haven't used these decorative stitches I didn't know that it uses lots of thread so I had to order more over the Internet as I couldn't buy it locally. So the whole thing took longer than it would have. I also didn't like creating the sleeve opening - I haven't been dress making for at least 12 years - so had to make another sleeve up. So all you beginners out there remember even those people who's been sewing for 30 years + (is it that long?) still make messes on their project. Just have a go again!

I have worn the blouse to work and found that the buttons weren't in the right place so I had gaps where there shouldn’t be so I'll be putting more buttons and buttonhole to fill them in. A large number of people were impressed by my creation.

I'm now in the process of making up other options of the blouse. I may even put the other frills on this one.

It's a lovely cherry red dotted material. It has an amount of cotton as it has a limited stiffness to it. I really don't know much about the material as I've had it for about 15 years. I had previously made a long sleeved shirt with it.