Burdastyle 11/2013 103

 I have been admiring the lovely high necked tops I have seen in ready to wear lately and wanted to make one for myself so when Minerva Crafts sent me this lovely chiffon, I knew exactly what it was destined to be.

Originally I was going to make an elasticated neck top, but this chiffon is quite stiff for a chiffon and has a slight texture.  I was concerned it would rub on my neck and be uncomfortable.  I had Burdastyle 11/2013 103 marked as one of the patterns I would like to make up and because the neck is a band as opposed to a tight elasticated finish, I figured it should work.

Burdastyle describe this pattern as "the straight, uncomplicated blouse with small standing collar has gathers at the neck and sleeve edges".  I am not sure about uncomplicated because it does have some interesting seam lines.

Before cutting out I treated my chiffon to a bath in a mixture of gelatin and water to starch the fabric as much as possible and left it soaking for an hour.  I then hung it on the line to drip dry.  I don't know whether this made much difference because this fabric was quite stable to start with.

I haven't quite nailed the sizing of Burdastyle patterns, so tend to measure them all very carefully before tracing them which is no easy task given all of those lines!  I don't always get it right, but this time I did and the pattern as drafted required no alterations to get the fit right.  I did however, not read the instructions correctly and my order of construction is wrong.  I wasn't going to unpick chiffon and certainly not french seams so my shoulder seams are not quite as flat as they could otherwise be, but if I make this pattern again, and I just might, I will change the order of construction as instructed.

Thinking about work wear at the moment when in New Zealand we are in a very strict version of Covid-19 lock down, seems extremely foreign.  In fact leaving the house at all except to get groceries, after 4 weeks is very much a foreign concept. Working from home, however, is real but jeans and a tee is the norm and makeup is very much optional.  Whether I will have a job to go back to, remains to be seen but in the mean time, lets pretend I have my old life back and I can swan around, in pretty tops in the autumn sun.  About the only thing close to reality in these photos is my lack of makeup!

Chiffon Burda Blouse
Fabric (gifted) $0.00
Pattern $16.00
Total $16.00