Morphed blouse

 
 
About a fortnight ago, I posted the photograph of my worn out Colorada blouse that I wanted to replace, adding it to my SWAP. Below is the final version. For the fabric, I used a cotton/linen shirt that was given to my husband in a size XXL. He has never worn it, as it is several sizes too big. There was plenty of fabric to use! I would have liked to replicate the Colarado blouse exactly, but was restricted by several factors. First my Vogue 2925 jacket does not look great with a v neck underneath. I deciced to use a jewel neckline, rather than a lower, straight neckline, so that I could wear the blouse to work. Second, the Colarado blouse fastens with a tape of hooks and eyes. This fastening has worked extremely well until the last few months, when metal fatigue set in, and the hooks adopted an angle that caused unexpected gaping. I do not have any of this tape, and could not source any in the time allowed to finish the SWAP, so replaced this fastening with a placket and buttons. Third, I made the new blouse longer in both the body and the sleeve, as I prefer this bodice length with pants (I need to wear pants to work) and I think the longer sleeve is more flattering.I added an inverted pleat at the back of the blouse to enable more free arm movement in my job. I did not have time or fabric enough to replicate the bands of mock hardanger embroidery on the Colorado blouse. To embellish the new blouse, I added a tiny amount of machine embroidery to the buttonhole placket. My final blouse resembles my RTW blouse in fabric, colour and general shape. It can replace it as an item in my wardrobe, but unfortunately I do not like it nearly as much. I do think the McCall's pattern made a good base for replicating the blouse, and would like to make another attempt with the original v neckline, bands of Hardanger or another embroidery, and a different centre fastening.