FO: Leila's Everyday Blouse (+ Giveaway)

This wee blouse is another test for Lydia of Little Kiwis Closet.  This is the third time I have been lucky enough to test one of her patterns and I have been impressed each time by the attention to detail in the pattern, the myriad of options that she fits into each pattern and also the thoroughness of her testing process.  This time around unfortunately I only had time to test version one of the pattern, which while it is just adorable has actually been improved upon and made even more adorable (can you believe that?).

When I got the call to test this I had a look through my stash and Miss M's wardrobe and I decided to use up some lovely vintage broiderie anglaise that I inherited from Mum's stash, every girl needs a nice white blouse in their wardrobe after all.  In keeping with the vintagey theme I went with the sweet peter pan collar and the puffed sleeves with frill (rather than a band).  I am so thrilled with the result and Miss M loves it.

Although Miss M is 3.5y I actually made her the 18-24m size and added length as required as this size best matched her chest measurement.  I would suggest sizing this by chest measurement as it has plenty of positive ease built in anyway.  After this version was made up the pattern was adjusted slightly to have be narrower in the shoulder so that the sleeve isn't too 'dropped', but other than that (and the fact that I lengthened it) the overall silhouette is the same.  I finished off the sleeves of mine with some vintage lace and used cute kitten buttons I picked up at a fabric sale last year.  I found that this pattern went together well and the instructions were very easy to follow.  The skirt worn in the photos is by the lovely Anne of Threadalicious.

This is a fabulous staple blouse pattern.  There are two collar options (peter pan and a ruffle collar) and size different sleeve options (puffed with band, puffed with frill, puffed with long sleeve, flowing long sleeve, flutter sleeve and cap sleeve), so there really is a blouse for every occasion in there.  It also covers sizes 9-12m up to 8y :-)

Because I love this pattern so much, and I haven't had a giveaway for ages I've decided to run a little giveaway with this post.  Just enter via rafflecopter below and I will draw the winner on 30/3/14 (NZ time).

Thanks for looking and happy sewing.


a Rafflecopter giveaway