This blouse had been malingering in my cupboard as a UFO. It’s the lace shirt 116 from Burda Style 3/2013.
I love many of the clothes in this particular issue, but the minute I saw this top I knew I had to make it. Coincidentally, some lovely heavy cotton lace that I had been coveting in Spotlight went on sale, and I was in business.
Please note the “heavy” cotton lace. I did not really factor in that this is a drop shoulder pattern made from what looks to be fairly drapey lace. When I put my top together I couldn’t actually put my arms down at my sides, the fabric was so stiff.
The head of the sleeve was almost flat, which made changing the pattern a little difficult as it wasn’t really wide enough further down the sleeve to accommodate the width of the new sleeve.
I searched my pattern stash for a pattern that I could use for the armscye and sleeve head and came upon Vogue 1366, which has been lurking there for quite a few months, unused.
It still has a slight drop shoulder, but it’s not as drastic and the sleeve and armscye do have a proper shape. All I did was cut a new armscye using this pattern, and then cut the top of the sleeve to match. This was all a bit dodgy as my fabric was now the wrong shape, but the bottom line? It worked, after a fashion, and I could now get my arms down by my sides.
It’s still a bit too hot to be wearing this blouse, but I can see that it will be perfect for autumn.
I have enough lace left over to make a skirt, but I couldn’t possibly wear them together – it would be far too “mother of the bride”. I am considering my options on this. I thought I might line the skirt with some cinnamon coloured lining, or purple, or… something. I also need to find coordinating clothes.
I didn’t take photos of the inside of this top, but I did Hong Kong binding seam finishes, using some coordinating bias binding from my stash. It took a satisfying amount of bias binding. As I write this I am about three hours away from the top, so you will have to take my word for this, but the inside is very neat.
In a nutshell: Blouse is 116 from Burda Style 3/2013, made from heavy cotton lace from Spotlight and rescued from my fabric cupboard. The skirt is Champagne from Capital Chic patterns.