Burda 12/17 Blouse #105

This is made from a polyester charmeuse, which isn’t something I normally go for, but it was so soft and drapey and didn’t feel plastic-y at all. And when I saw the December 2017 Burda blouse, it seemed like the perfect match.

Of course, it took me four months to sew it up. But here it is, finally, and worth it. It’s a really lovely blouse, and if you’re looking for something drapey, but not shapeless, and with some interesting details, this is a good pattern.

A few details are kind of fussy:

• The shoulders are meant to sit back from the joint, as you can see; I didn’t adjust the seam because I didn’t want to end up with the shoulder seam too broad and mess up that bit of puffiness, but as it turns out, it really would have benefited from a bit of an extension. It’s just a bit snug.
• I did the FBA and ended up with my usual enormous side dart, but didn’t add a waist dart–I kept the blousiness instead. I think it works but your mileage may vary. As per usual I basted the dart and left it unpressed so that I could shift it if I needed to–and I did. The dart point was several inches too low so I ripped it out and moved it up. A lot. It took about five tries to get it right–oy. Mostly this is because the FBA was 2″ per side so things moved around a lot, what with all the cutting and pasting; but I find bust darts on most patterns too low for me.
• The pleats!

Burda has general pleat instructions, consisting of the number and size. But the last thing you want is wobbly, crooked, uneven pleats on the collar, so a few suggestions:

1. Pin each pleat securely.
2. Baste through the top and bottom of the whole run of pleats
3. Pin to the collar piece from the top of the pleat piece rather than the bottom
4. Baste, and be prepared to rip out stitches to pull pleats in or push them out to keep the top of that piece even
5. I recommend using a zipper or other foot that allows you to get very close to the bulk of the pleats when attaching it to the collar

I made my ruffled collar a bit shorter than they suggested as I don’t like a lot of bulk around my neck.

I used a very lightweight tricot fusible interfacing on this blouse to keep the drapeyness, and it worked; cuffs and collar are finished with handstitching this time to minimize visible stitching. Seams were first sewn with a regular machine and then serged to prevent fraying. A french seam would have worked, but I’m just not putting in the effort for poly, no matter how pretty it is.

I’m not sure it’s the kind of shirt you make more than once. I would recommend it, though. It’s pretty and different and works very well with a very fluid fabric.

Sizing Note

This is a size 38 with an FBA. I shortened the sleeves by about 1″, but that’s just my short arms. I should be a 40 w/ an FBA, but as usual, with Burda I size down by one.