Sew Long Summer with a Hacked Daisy Blouse

I’m hanging on to the last bit of summer while I still have this awesome Caribbean tan with my hacked Daisy blouse.

Today is the last day of the Sew Long Summer blog tour. Sew Long Summer is all about getting those transitional wardrobe pieces ready; finishing up all those things we meant to make this summer; and well, basically whatever Sew Long Summer means to you.

Since this is Southern California summer is perpetual. But my tan is NOT, mostly because I usually avoid the sun like the plague because heat sucks and so does skin cancer. However, despite wearing 50+SPF in Puerto Rico last month, the sun still managed to kiss me with its rays.

So when life gives us lemons, we make margaritas! While wearing white shirts, which contrast nicely with the darker skin.

Now I’m kind of bummed I didn’t get a picture of me wearing this while sipping a margarita…

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The garment I made is the Sinclair Patterns Daisy Blouse. From the website description:

[S]emi fitted at the shoulders, chest and bust, relaxed at the waist and hips classic woven blouse. Offered with relaxed long sleeves finished with a small pleat and elastic band at the hem or semi-fitted petal sleeves with no seam finished with a small pleat on one side. The blouse is finished with a curved hem. Beautiful blouse that is easy to make and that can become a great piece for your wardrobe.

I’ve made this blouse once before but never blogged it. The nice thing about Sinclair Patterns is that the women’s patterns come in 3 torso lengths: petite, regular, and tall. Presumably, this means you will have fewer length adjustments to make to a bodice.

The Daisy blouse is also one of the first patterns that Sinclair Patterns used cup sizing for! So I was able to print out a petite D-cup, meaning I wouldn’t have to make my typical adjustments of shortening the bodice 3″ nor an FBA! YAY!

Cleverly, the cup sizing was built into the neck pleating on the blouse. So instead of a dart, the size of the pleats changed with each cup size. Neat, huh?

My original shirt was a very simple floral cotton voile of the petal-sleeved version. This time, I decided to show off as much of my tan and leave the petal sleeves off. That was hack number 1.

I raised the armhole a bit, a half-inch on both front and back. I also narrowed the shoulders a half-inch, which I should probably add to my standard adjustments from now on…

Then I decided to change the Daisy blouse neckline a bit. Hack number 2 was to go from pleats to gathers. The drapey white fabric I planned on using, a stashed crinkle poly-rayon blend, lent itself really well to this change.

But how to go from pleats to gathers and keep the neckline the same length? Having a finished garment on hand made this easy since I could simply measure it to determine how much to gather. But if you try this hack at home, simply fold up your pattern piece along the pleats and measure along the seam line (NOT the cut line!). Then double that number since the pattern piece is half the width of your body.

I can tell you that on the US size 20 D-cup bodice, the gathering measures 4″ when finished. I only gathered the fabric between the 2 outer most pleats.

Since the Daisy blouse neckline is finished with bias binding, I decided to finish the armholes in the same way. It’s a nice visual consistency. (Even if they did stretch a little when I sewed them—oops!)

Upon finishing the Daisy blouse I realized it’s still very long on me, despite the “petite” length. I could even wear it with leggings to cover my butt if I felt I needed to. Looking at the gallery photos, it looks like it should end around the high hip. So I will be making some length modifications in future versions!

Thanks to the thinness of the fabric, it doesn’t create too much bulk if I opt to tuck it into pants or a skirt. Options are nice with your margaritas!

Don’t forget to visit the rest of my fellow bloggers on the tour this week, and see how they say Sew Long Summer!

The full tour includes these talented sewists, so I hope you’ll follow along and comment on their posts this week.

Sept. 9th Sewing A La Carte, mahlicadesigns, Sewing Vortex, Sewing With Sarah

Sept. 10th The Bear and Pea Atelier, Auschick Sews, Stitched by Jennie, Miss Marah Sewn

Sept. 11th Sew Cute Couture by Kathy, A Rose Tinted World, mahlicadesigns

Sept. 12th Little Heart Threads, Lulu and Celeste, The Crafting Fiend, Fils Anddraps

Sept. 13th Petite Font, Sew 4 Five, The Sewing Scientist, Sew Cute Couture by Kathy, Kitty Makes It

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