McCall's M7977 Adapted Update

Original post here

I finished my M7977 blouse at the beginning of the year and still hadn't worn it. There were a couple of things I didn't like. 

The first was that it was a purposefully oversized pattern and I maybe went a size too large. The fabric I had used was very stiff and didn't like to gather in nicely at the waist when tucked into a skirt. I don't think this would have been fixed by gathering the waist as in the original instructions, as the thick material just didn't like to fold. 

The second thing was it just felt too plain (to me anyway). I wanted it to have some kind of ruffle as on the original pattern. I was thinking of a smaller ruffle or some gathered lace, but I didn't have any black lace ribbon in the house so that would have required a long trip to the nearest sewing supply store or ordering online and hoping it worked. 

So in the end I decided to just cut out the original ruffle from the pattern in the same lace fabric as the yoke and see how it looked. I really liked it, so I decided not to make it any narrower as it looked good with the wide ruffle, and not as OTT as I had feared... or maybe I just like OTT. 

Adding a ruffle after you have already sewn the yoke is a real pain. It was too hard to unpick as I had sewn it in well and zigzagged the edges already, so I eventually pinned it with the raw side on top and then flipped it down again afterwards so the raw edges are hidden by the ruffle. I can't really think of a better way to explain this. Here are some pictures.

The lacy fabric was also difficult to gather as the thread got snagged, so it was a quite frustrating enterprise, but the payoff was worth it. 

I then took the voluminous blouse in slightly by just pinning some of the fabric on the inside and sewing straight down the sides, still leaving it a little loose as it was a top that slips on and off with no fastenings. This way it can be let out again if needs be. Doing so  made it easier to tuck into a skirt, although the stiff material still isn't a fan of being tucked in. 

The skirt is tucked in slightly differently in the final pictures, as I decided it looked better tucked in that way, but I am very happy with the final result. If I make this top again I will probably go a size down in the pattern and/or use a much less stiff fabric. I really love how it looks now, and I think I will get more wear out of it.