It’s ALIIIIIVE!!! Ahem – I mean, I finally got around to making a Bleuet blouse.

I bought this soft chambray at Loom Morningside to make a Zinnia skirt. After cutting the skirt, I had a tantalizing yard-ish of fabric left.

Sometimes I get an idea in my head and become obsessed with seeing if I can make it happen. I wanted a blouse from these scraps. Real bad.

I surveyed this scant yard with a steely gaze. Could I eek out a blouse from this? Fervently, I raided my patterns, laying out bodice pieces and sleeves to no avail but for one: the Bleuet.

Its princess seamed bodice pieces were skinny enough to finagle into fitting onto the scrap. I had barely enough for the sleeves and 1 of the 2 requisite collar pieces. I cut the underside collar from gray voile scraps but decided to leave out the collar stand.

It’s worth noting that I graded the pattern from a size 38 to a 42 from the armscye and up, to make room for my football player shoulders.

I breezed through the bodice construction and sewed up the gathered sleeves, French seams and all.

The sleeves were terrible. The gathers stood tall and high, like those of a starchy pilgrim on a Sunday afternoon . They had to go.

**seam ripping montage**

I don’t much like gathered sleeves to begin with and resolved to make regular sleeves from the salvaged pieces. This is where Aierelle came in.

I used the short version of the Aierelle sleeve to replace the Bleuet’s poofy ones. The new sleeve fit well over the curved parts of the armscye, but the ends need to be lengthened by about 1/4 inch each to fit properly.

Next I attached the collar to the neckline. It worked, but it really needs the collar stand. I used a French seam to attach it and top stitched under the collar to secure it. To create the placket, I folded the placket first to the wrong side, then to the right side and stitched across the top, making sure to cover the raw edge of the collar’s French seam.

Buttons and hems and a monster is born. It’s a little bit wonky, I admit, but for a fevered experiment, it came out alright. I love wearing it and will definitely make another. However, I would make it longer and use the proper collar stand next time around.
Rippers up!