Wardrobe garment 1: The drawstring blouse

Well, it's been a while since I posted, hasn't it! I didn't intend to go so long without writing, really.

The good news is that I have a few finished wardrobe garments to share with you. I'll spread them out over a few posts. This first one I'm showing you is one of my faves. I actually wore it to work today with some dark blue denim and brown boots.

BWOF 5-2007-111

The first garment I completed is this lovely blouse from the May issue of Burda magazine. I fell in love with it based on the model photo. She just looks so easy breezy. Part of the reason for that is because her sleeves are rolled up, which I haven't tried yet, but I certainly will once the weather warms up.

Fabric

Brown on ivory print cotton gauze from Manhattan Fabrics. This was my first time ordering with them. I think I looked at this fabric online every day for a month before I finally bit the bullet and ordered it. The shipping costs made it a kind of expensive purchase but the cool thing is that they were very generous with their cut - I got more than half a yard extra!

Bias binding to cover armhole raw edges

Notes on construction/alterations

As far as alterations, I didn't make any.

This fabric just loves to ravel, so I finished all the seams as French seams. I also used bias binding strips to cover the armhole's raw edges.

Because of this project, I finally bought a Dritz loop turner. After the first very successful turn, I was all set to give this product a rave review. Then I had a few mishaps. You know, where the tube gets halfway turned out and then the loop turner looses it's grip on the end...leaving you with an inside out stub. Overall though, I'm happy with this notion, espcially considering it costs only about $3.

Strips of fabric are sewn inside the blouse to form casings for the drawstrings

Conclusion
I'm lovin' it! I toyed with tying all of the drawstrings in front, but I think it looks better when they are all loose, like in the line drawing and model photo.