To SWAP or not and BurdaStyle Magazine 03-2010-124 blouse

First to answer a question from Rosa a few posts ago. SWAP stands for sewing with a plan, which is a sewing challenge/competition at Stitchers Guild to make an 11 item wardrobe, finishing today.
I like the idea of SWAP, as I have a tendency to sew dresses and orphans when left to my own devices, leaving me, and my family with full wardrobes and not much to wear (unless a dress will do, which is fine for nearly everything except work and the male family members)
Last year I sewed boring work clothes for myself, very, very useful, and all the blouses are still in circulation, although I killed or wore out the trousers with my usual speed, and have since made two replacement pairs. I almost got a TNT work blouse after making 7 versions of a vogue pattern, and 4 muslins, but still hate the collar. It was worth sewing the SWAP 2009.
This year I have been sewing a work wardrobe for my daughter. She needed the clothes, as she has an office job and a shop job for after school and weekends, and also will be spending 2 weeks undertaking "work experience" through school later in the year. I am quite pleased with the wardrobe to date, but am fed up with SWAP. What I am hating today, is the extra requirements. The idea is to challenge the seamstress, but frankly, I am sufficiently challenged by sewing 11 items that co-ordinate.
The extra requirements are
1. Embroidery or embellishment - done, machine embroidery as I am not wasting hand work on an office blouse. This is not tricky for me, and I made it early.
2. Unusual closure 0r buttons as a feature- whilst I appreciate this as an artistic idea, I am not artistic. This is the blouse I made this week with buttons as a feature. Burda style 03-2010-123, with lots of half sphere buttons.





This was tricky to photograph, being white, but it was foggy at the crack of dawn this morning, so I took advantage of my very sleepy daughter and made her model whilst I had soft light. That is one way to limit the clothes requests :)
I have evicted one blouse and one skirt so far because I can't take a nice photo of them, so I was relieved that this one worked out.
3. Match stripes, plaid or pattern
My problem. I couldn't match the print for a skirt that I thought I might include, as there was insufficient fabric, so I thought instead I would make a striped blouse, then had to work all last weekend (long weekend here) with NO sewing (I feel quite deprived). I have buttons and collar to finish still, and I don't think I like the blouse. I feel quite stupid for sewing a blouse that I don't want to sew, just for a sewing challenge.
A truly mature and sensible person would have a glass of wine and read a good book this evening.
I am trying to convince myself that I am mature and sensible.
Edited to add: Several commmentors have asked if I can include a previously made or purchased garment and finish the SWAP. Unfortunately, no. I have plenty of previously made, and indeed several additional garments made within the time period that co-ordinate, but none of them have a matching print, plaid or stripe, so without this last garment, I do not meet the requirements.It might also seem that I should be at my sewing machine, not my computer, but I am on the computer for work, and am giving myself little sewing thought breaks - the advantage of working for yourself!

Burda Style Magazine 03-2010-106 skirt

This skirt should have been very easy. What could be easier than a straight (well, nearly straight, I think it is slightly pegged) skirt with no waistband. I even left off the welt pockets.






It looks OK here, but let me tell you my sad story.
This skirt has a fly front. I am not accustomed to sewing fly fronts with no waistband, so I followed the Burda instructions. At least, I thought I followed the Burda instructions. This is what I ended up with.
Bodgy on the outside, but the true disaster can only be seen on the inside.



Obviously I have failed to understand the instructions.

I took the scissors to the facing, cutting an L shape into the left front, unpicked a bit, and tidied it up so the outside waistlooks straight at least, and the inside can be fastened more easily.



I felt that the outside top fastening was insecure and wobbly looking, so added a snap. You can see here the ravelliness of the fabric - I zigzagged that edge twice.


I am not unhappy with the fix, despite my daughters telling me it didn't look any different! Fellow seamstresses will understand that it looks far, far better now.
Does anyone have a tutorial for this sort of fly front? My 1960's sewing instruction book has let me down badly here, and Australian Stitches can only offer me a lapped zipper with facing instructions.

As the fabric has quite a bit of stretch, I used a zig-zag blind hem instead of a regular blind hem stitch, and again used the overlocker to finish most seams. This skirt is a straight size 38 Burda, with two additional darts at the back to take in the waist, and a little off the side seams. The fabric is an expensive piece of stretch jaquard from Kerryn's Fabric World (mercifully, as I bought it several years ago in a What was I thinking? moment, I can only remember that it was over $40 per metre).It was such a small piece that exact pattern matching was not possible. This was almost a quick project!