My finished Victorian Blouse

Here's is my finished 3rd and final garment for the costume store:

A few minor alterations to the original blouse that we were copying from have had to happen but I don't think that this has effected the overall look of the blouse at all.

My main alteration has been due to the silk organza and the early disaster i had with my first attempt at pleating. The replacement organza that I was given was very sheer which meant that when it wasn't pleated and layered several times you could see straight through it. This meant that where my button stand was supposed to be organza at the top where the pleats are, i had to to one long one in the white ottoman and then cover the top half again in the organza. I did this because I wanted to maintain the continuity of the blouse even though at first glance it doesn't look like there is organza covering it at all.

This also meant that where my collar was supposed to be two pieces of organza I had to make a collar insert out of the main fabric as you would have been able to clearly see the scruffy seam allowance which is usually hidden on the inside of the collar. This did make putting the collar on much trickier as the fabric became slippery and difficult to handle and meant that the finer and smaller details of sewing didn't turn out as nicely or neatly as i would have liked.

I've really enjoyed making this blouse and didn't find it too challenging at all as i was able to get on and complete it without having my tutor their to instruct me on things that I wasn't sure of. All of the alterations I had to make due to the organza were all near or less my own decisions which I think demonstrates a better understanding of construction and a bigger belief in my own abilities which I didn't have at the beginning of the unit.