Burda World of Fashion 01-2008-107 Bib front blouse

I've grit my teeth and am sticking to my work clothes plan. I rather like the trousers (considering that they are well, trousers), they've done their duty well at work, but photos are lacking, so I shall post about the blouse of multiple fabrics instead.

In my typical very - poor - use - of- time in an attempt to be thrifty, I was determined to make some sort of garment from a shirting remnant (man shirt), and thinking of the fabric squeezing possibilities inherent in a blouse with 8 pieces in the front, actually had a workable arrangement for this rather interesting take on a business shirt, Burda Style 01-2008-107.

technical drawing from www.burdafashion.com

 I've made this before (with the collar from 108) using different stripe directions for the front and find the effect quite pleasing. (The FBA method and other alterations I used for this garment are shown at the post about the previous blouse )
Naturally, I needed a little help from another fabric to get a whole blouse from my remnant, but as I often make contrast collar stand, cuffs and plackets, for work shirts, I didn't see this as a problem

Unfortunately, in an unusual burst of enthusiasm for cutting out (usually I make one garment before starting the next one), I was cutting out blouse the first from my 6pac at the same time, and surprisingly having a largish rectangle of my striped shirting cotton left over, I cut out cuffs and collar stand for my cream blouse and patted myself on the back for using up every last piece of the remnant.
I'm sure you can fortell the next stage of this story.

Yes, I had only cut out one of the upper side pieces. This was cut in a single layer, so as to have the stripes in opposite directions for the 2 sides. When I carefully went through casually checked the pieces of the shirt, pinned to their pattern, prior to cutting out my extra cuffs, I failed to notice that there was a singleton.
The partially completed bodice lay around on my sewing table for a few days looking at me mockingly.
I wasn't keen to use the same fabric as the collar and cuffs, this being a bit strong in contrast, but having 3 fabrics in the blouse was making me think that the blouse would read "weekend cheerful and colourful patchwork" rather than "professional with a touch of whimsy".

Eventually, I went with a solid off-white, in a cotton herringbone twill (shirt weight), which has enough of a stripe effect to give me the directional variation I was after.

It is not a disaster, but I'm not sure if I like it as much as my original plan, there is something rather noticeable about it for a work blouse.

My other design changes to the pattern  were to offset the cuffs again, for a line of contrast from the right side, to add more buttons to the front fastening for gaposis resistance, and also an inverted pleat at the back, sewn down at the top and waist, to ensure room for arm movement with minimal untucking.Instead of the complex half chesterfield front with an added tab, (which was fun, looks good but used a lot of fabric and required fiddling) I have used the most simple form of sewn on placket - a long strip folded over, with self fabric as interfacing. I have used a David Page Coffin sleeve placket pattern and instructions from Shirtmaking.

Seams are flatfelled, for garment longevity and inside tidiness to be visible when the sleeves are rolled up, and I have used flat buttons on the cuffs instead of the shank ones at the front, to reduce catching.
It should be very practical and useful, and there is another blouse from the same pattern cut out and ready to go.



Unfortunately I have a sudden urge to sew chiffon and ruffles.

Scrapbusting statistics about 1.3 m of shirting remannt (Global Fabrics, Wellington 2011), and a few cm of 2 other cottons - herringbone twill from Michael's fabrics and unremembered location  for the floral.