Burda Style For people who sew

Description

Believe it or not, this blouse started out life as something very different: one of my husband’s old uniform shirts! One of his uniforms was getting phased out and replaced, and I snatched the shirts up for reuse when he was getting rid of them. After all they were cotton, the fabric had a nice hand, and they were the lovely chambray blue I adore (and seems to have caught on popularity-wise this year). I have three of them, but used just two for this project (had to cut around stains and such, otherwise I think I could have used just one!). I love recycling things, as you all already know, and this was a really fun project to take something from “blah” to more of a feminine piece!

The design was inspired by a blouse I spotted on this Flickr stream . I made the pattern using the basic blouse block drafted from Design-It-Yourself Clothes (a Christmas gift from my parents), which had been in my to-do pile for a long time! It’s a very simple design: tucks along the front neckline, the waist cinched with elastic (this helps keep things neat and tidy when tucked into slacks or a skirt), and simple button straps. Pretty easy!

I really love the buttons; they’re the ones I crocheted earlier this spring and wrote about here . It gives the top a little bit of texture visually, but keeps with the quiet simplicity. I like details like that: subtle but gives the garment a bit more “umph”, if you know what I mean.

So now I have added another (much needed) breezy summer piece to my wardrobe! I’m pretty excited about this one, only because it seems like something I could be tempted to make again (I rarely go back and make patterns again–have you noticed that? I think once I do something, I get it out of my system and am ready to move on!). Maybe with some pretty calico print? Hmm… might have to search the thrift stores for something appropriate.

Material Notes

recycled, repurposed

Difficulty

Intermediate

Categories

For

Women

Garment Type

Tops

Style

Classic, Vintage

Material

Cotton