I recently saw this adorable horse printed crepe de chine on Mood Fabrics, and it was totally asking to be made into a cute, equestrian-style blouse. And so it was!
I knew I wanted it to have bell sleeves, which were all over the runways last week, with slightly gathered shoulders. Rather than create my own pattern, I followed Vogue V8927, with just a few alterations.
Bell sleeves are fairly simple to create – just draw a bell! I pinned the original sleeve pattern piece to my fabric, and drew off of that. About 2″ was added to either side of the shoulder (I was working with a size 8). And roughly 4″ was tacked onto both sides toward the cuff.
With that alteration, only one step needed to be added between pattern instructions – gathering the sleeves! At the shoulders, I ruched the excess fabric for about 6″, which you can see above.
I followed the pattern when it came to the cuffs, so all the extra crepe de chine billowing around the wrists was gathered quite a bit, creating the airy silhouette typically seen with bell sleeves.
A few gold glass buttons on the cuffs and front placket tied the shirt together for a cute and casual new look!
1 comment
This one caught my eye but am disappointed that it isn’t a cotton. Looking for a horse print to sew western shirts for hubby and me for when we attend a dance next winter with western theme. I’ll continue searching your website.