Peachy, Summer Blouse (Another Aster)

I went wild shopping online for fabric several years ago and am only now getting to some of the fabric.  I'd been wanting a cool blouse to wear during the summer time.  Something feminine but classy.  I bought a beautiful peach fabric online, and it sat in my cubby hole for the last few years.

At some point last year, probably, I cut out pieces from this fabric to make another Colette Patterns Aster shirt (see my first shirt from this pattern).  It seemed easier the second time around, except that because of this fabric, I had some puckering and tension issues throughout the project.

I also find the button placket instructions difficult to follow, so I took some photos to hopefully help me remember how I decided to do the placket.  I did use interfacing that was probably thicker than it should have been, and the fact that it gets folded over twice for the button placket made it too stiff for my liking.  The blouse looks fine, though, and making the button holes was a cinch.

 

 

I also somehow got really confused when attaching my second sleeve and kept doing it incorrectly.  What I found most helpful was just holding it in place as though I was going to wear the shirt, then pinning it and sewing it.  

My biggest problem was at the end, when I realized the neckline on one side was too wide and wouldn't lie flat.  You can't really tell in this photo, and although one side of this blouse looks much longer than the other side in this photo, they actually line up well at the bottom.  But... to solve the wide neckline problem, I actually folded the button stand on one side one more time to try to cinch in that neckline.  It still looks a bit off, but I'm not sure how else to fix it at this point.

I plan to sew a snap in just above the top button to hopefully pull that neckline in a little more.

Neckline issues aside, it's a beautiful blouse.  I wore it to work with my pearl necklace, which I almost never wear because none of my work outfits seem to match.  I just need to work on my technique and making sure the fit is right before I finish off each project.