I shouldn't have strayed into the craft/haberdashery department when I went to John Lewis last week. The beautiful fabric drew my in though, particularly the special edition 150th anniversary fabrics. They only have a few for sale online and I didn't take pictures unfortunately, but they were so many bright colours and amazing retro prints. And of course I saw one that I 'just had to have', though at £18 per metre, I have to admit it was a little (a lot!) out of my budget :( After a momentary sulk, I decided on a compromise between the fabric and my purse and bought a small amount, enough to make a pretty jazzy collar. 

I came home with 0.3metres of fab pink/purple wiggly line 100% cotton. After the success of my first Simplicity 2154, I thought this would be perfect for a collar on the second attempt. Then came the DILEMA: what colour do I make the blouse?! I went to B&M Fabrics based in Leeds Kirkgate Market (if you live anywhere near Leeds GO!) and ended up buying two colours: a perfect pinky/purple match, and a majorly contrasting minty green.

After some nail biting decision making, I decided to go all out and make it in the contrast green. I had a vision of it looking all lovely and retro, maybe a bit fifties, but when I started cutting and stitching the pieces together, I had a moment of 'oh no'... I was going to look like I was putting my scrubs on to go into theatre. Hello Dr Frank-N-Furter, unexpected and accidental sewing inspiration - just let me grab my pearls and a pair of pink Marigolds...

I  made a serious effort to tack everything first this time, and the overall finish was much neater. The fit is probably a bit off though, hence the doctor's scrubs comparisons. I can't believe it's took me so long to realise that a little bit of pattern can subtly disguise all manner of sewing sins and fit issues! The fabric I used for the last version was a bit thinner so the blouse sits better, especially when tucked in, and the pattern of it diverts attention from any dodgy bits. But in when made in a block colour (minus the collar), I'm really noticing the excess fabric around the waist.

Trying to get the fit spot on was actually a really good challenge, and it means that both my Simplicity 2154 blouses will have a different look to them - it's not my uniform you know!

I did the alterations the way I thought best, which involved lots of trying the blouse on inside out and pinching and pinning at the darts. It was mainly the front two that I was concerned about - they needed taking in a bit under the bust in order for the fabric to skim over the bust/waist area better. I measured and tacked both first to make sure everything was even and I'd not completely distorted the shape of the blouse.

Once I'd done that I thought why stop there with the adjustments?! The improved fit on the body actually made the shoulders look a bit out of balance, so I unpicked the arm facing (the bit that you press towards the inside for a neat finish) and restitched it an extra centimetre in - much better. They also got a top stitch after the photo below, so it sits nicely in place. I attached the collar, and taaa-daaa, I no longer look like an I'm heading to the theatre (or the lab)!

I never thought I'd get into ironing, but the sewing thing really forces you to! It's quite satisfying to press all those darts into shape and get rid of all the creases from squashing it through the sewing machine. And I did a proper hem this time - no bias binding cheats - so a blast a steam was pretty much essential to turning it up.

If you walk past me in the street, you'll probably see the bow before you notice me, because I finished the Simplicity 2154 blouse. I had great fun with the pattern and love pretty much everything about the finished garment - I'd wear it every day if I could!

It was frantically finished on the morning that I wanted to wear it. I spent my train journey picking out all the tacking and basted stitches and did a bit of a rush job with the zip. I was in such a rush to get leave the house that I didn't get chance to take a picture of it. So the first picture of me in my dream blouse ended up being a badly-lit, slightly tipsy toilet selfie (sorry!). I cropped the toilets out for everyone's sake, but my elbow does seem to be resting in one, that's just my natural stance...

And sshhhhhh it's a secret, but it wasn't actually finished - I didn't have time to hem the blouse, very bad of me I know, but it was tucked in so who was going to notice?

After it's first wear, I finished the hem, did a few adjustments and took some proper photos:

THE BOW: It's big, so big it overshadows the blouse, and probably me, but I don't care because I LOVE IT! I can totally understand why both Bimble and Pimble and Handmade Jane chose not to interface their versions, but I really do love the structure it's given mine, and it also sits really nicely when worn with a cardigan. I used medium weight interfacing rather than light weight, and the bow sits a bit differently to how the pattern intends it to, but that's fine by me. I'd suggest skipping the interfacing altogether though if you wanted more of a drape on it, particularly if you're using a 100% cotton that already holds its shape quite well like this one.

There's no underestimating the amount of satisfaction you can get from a tiny button. I managed to find the perfect little retro match for the blouse. The back had a bit of a tweak after the first wear - it didn't quite sit right at first, so I got my flatmate to do a temporary safety pin fix. I ended up just moving the button over so there was a slight overlap at the top of the back opening. I was also meant to make a thread loop for the button, but I was being lazy and opted for an elastic loop instead. The thread loop is one to try in the future though - I'll be following this tutorial when I get around to making one.

And here it is worn with my denim Sewing Bee pencil skirt, and my pale and holiday-ready limbs. I made a straight size 14 with no adjustments, and although it fits perfectly on the bust, there's a bit of excess fabric around the waist. Luckily, I tuck most things in anyway, and the high waist of the pencil skirt works great. I had been a bit uncertain about having a zip in the side, but it's lapped and barely noticeable. I might consider putting one in the back instead to give a bit more flexibility with adjusting the side seams, but I should probably just pluck up the courage to take in the darts instead.

Arghhh, I've done it, I've started the DREAM BLOUSE!

I spent soooo long trying to pick a fabric that was just right. I went to the shops with red-spots-on-white in mind, a bit like an inverted version of Handmade Jane's lovely version which can be found here... but no success. So I just went all out and bought this incredibly retro 100% cotton - scroll down for a closer look. I'm probably going to end up looking all retro air hostess like the model on the cover of the pattern, but oh well, I think that's a look I can handle.

I behaved like a very studious little dressmaker and read all of the instructions before beginning. It's a good job as well, because you had to fold RIGHT sides together when cutting out the fabric - that's not something I've come across before, it might not have made too much difference anyway, but I followed it word for word.

Then came the boring, time-consuming bit - transferring all of the pattern markings. Lots and lots of dots, a fair few darts, and notches galore.

Then the sewing... which so far, has been pretty straight forward. Me/my machine struggled a bit with the more complex front and back darts. Part of this is because my machine is a mini Janome for beginners. It really struggles with taking up fabric/gripping it properly, making it much harder to sew in straight lines, hummppphhh. The other part is down to me - I pinned my darts but didn't tack them into place and now they're a bit wonky. Lesson learnt, tacking is imperative and I'd better not get too big for my boots now.