I’m joining a Men’s Shirt Sew-Along at Male Pattern Boldness, starting at February 1! If you’ve never heard of Peter of Male Pattern Boldness, you really should check out his blog and read his adventure in clothes-making, written in the most entertaining way as possible. He posts everyday, which I really admire. Reading his posts often makes me chuckling in the middle of the night (got to blame those time differences!). Peter is arranging a sew-along using Negroni pattern from Colette (but you can use any men’s shirt pattern as well), and the time is just perfect because my husband can have a new shirt for spring.

I rarely made any shirt for myself. Usually I prefer wearing dress, as wearing separate top and bottom always makes me feel a bit self-conscious about my asymmetrical hip (because of scoliosis).

But I decided to make a simple blouse, maybe I want to try something different, and also as a ‘warming-up’ project for the sew-along. The fabric is called ‘Toys’ by Shinzi Katoh. I bought it without much thought, just because it is so cute, that’s why I only had 1 m of the fabric. Luckily it was just enough for a blouse in my size.

I drafted the pattern myself, using directions from 1970 book,  Pattern Drafting Vol. II. The flat collar was drafted from Garment Design Textbook (3) Blouses ＆ Dresses, published by Bunka. My husband bought #1 and #3 from this series as my birthday presents (^_^)

The blouse was pretty simple, with front and back darts, bust darts, and small shoulder darts. I love shoulder darts! In my opinion they make the clothes lay better on the backside. There was not enough fabric even for the small back facing, so I use double-gauze bias tape to attach the collar.

I kinda like the finished blouse, despite still a bit self-conscious about my hip. I’m wearing it here with my favorite bubble shorts. The tie is just a piece of black lace. Too bad it is still too cold to wear this blouse outside, I can’t wait for spring!

Blouse pattern is self-drafted.