Pink and cream blouse, and the perfect pattern

I am big busted, round bellied, with a fair sized butt.  My hips are narrowish in comparison, but that does not help the overall package that much.  I am also plus sized, a big woman, BBW, lush, generously proportioned, goddess shaped, perfect for a 14th century painter, or made to model for a frieze.

My commitment to sew for myself, in part comes from my difficulty in sourcing clothing that fits my body well, but even then, I can struggle with the patterns.  Invariably the bust isn’t big enough, the waist too small in comparison, and  the hips designed for a man’s body.  And so I have to make alterations.  But … not today.

Today I made up a new pattern, Style Arc Katherine Blouse – a straight size 20.  I used a piece of fabric from my stash, figuring it was cheap and if it didn’t work, I would just bin it and move on.  I have had this pattern for a while, but suffered a serious case of “new pattern nerves”, and so took ages to make up my mind and just do it. This top is actually a wearable muslin, as I have a gorgeous piece of japanese fabric to make it up with, but didn’t want to risk it without knowing how the pattern would behave. The fabric is a piece of super soft gauze’y cotton (yes really smart to test drive a pattern with such a soft fabric) that I got from some stash diving I did a while back. It had to live on the clothes line for a while, because it had a super chemical smell to it. Its a bit see through to wear on its own, to this is another top that will need a cami underneath when I wear it.

So we have …… Style Arc – Katherine Blouse, in a super fine cotton woven. Alterations: neck bow left off, snaps on placket, and I didn’t bother with the slit on the sleeve, just doing a simple cuff.

Well there you go ….. a useful blouse, made pretty much to the supplied size. For the next one I plan to give myself a smidge more room around the hips, but the pattern is pretty much perfect for my size, so that makes me very happy.