It’s all about THAT collar

I’ve been a long-time admirer of Jennifer Lauren Handmade patterns. I absolutely love the vintage-inspired aesthetic her patterns have – they have a nod to retro styles without being a pastiche. I chose to make the Aisling Blouse pattern as I though it would be super practical for me and easily hackable, and already it’s proving that.

I used this wonderful lemon fabric from my shop Bornella Fabrics which is a linen/viscose blend. I made view A with the collar – I’m an utter sucker for a collar! – but I wanted to highlight it. I’ve seen quite a few makes of this blouse on Instagram where the blouse is made in a patterned fabric and the collar gets a bit lost in the print. I didn’t want that – quite the opposite – I wanted to emphasise the collar, especially as it’s such a pretty shape with that lovely square neckline. I made two changes to the pattern – firstly to shorten the sleeves as I want this to be a summer blouse, and secondly to add a ruffle to the edge of the collar.

The blouse came together super quickly. I found the neckline was relatively straightforward. For a great result make sure you pivot the needle the moment you sew past the collar – that way you’ll get the square neckline to start exactly where the collar finishes. You also need to make sure you clip into the seam allowance at that corner to create a super neat corner when pressing.

The sleeves went in pretty easily without too many hiccups and then it was just the finishing touches of buttons – I used these yellow doughnuts by Ethel and Joan which look like they were made for this blouse.

And voila! The Aisling Blouse was complete. I found it a super speedy, super enjoyable sew. The instructions were clear and I found the finished blouse true to size. I can see myself making a lot of these down the line, especially if decide to hack it.

Happy sewing

Tanya xx

@bornellafabrics