1950's Cropped Blouse - Simplicity 2470

Pattern Make: Simplicity Pattern Number: 2470 Year of Publication: 1958 Size: 12 Teen Type of Garment: Jr. Misses' and Teen Age Blouse Suggested Materials: - All views in: Cottons, broadcloth, flannelette, polished cotton, chambray, linen, rayon, silks, blends. Suggested Notions: -  Blouse View 1, 2 and 3: 2 spools of thread. View 1: 9 buttons. View 2 and 3: 6 buttons.

Briefly describe your garment: Two types of blouses available in this pattern; the basic foundation of this pattern is a button down blouse with darts, a yoke, a decorative box pleat and detachable collar (with a point at the center back). You can complete Version 1 or 2 which is essentially the same; it's a regular sized blouse with fitted darts and uses long or short sleeves, with the collar (detachable or not). Version 3 is cropped and gathered at the waist and features a button tab on the waistband. I chose Version 3.

What materials were used in the creation of this garment? Stash fabric, of course, because it's springtime and I need to do some spring cleaning! I used a green cotton cherry print. It's a very lightweight fabric and features a busy print, which is why I felt it would work well as a blouse. For the collar I used stash white cotton broadcloth. I also used a lightweight fusible interfacing for the collar and to stabilize the buttonholes. The interfacing is not necessary for this pattern, it's not recommended at all in the instructions. I only used it because my contrasting collar fabric was so lightweight that you could see every detail of the seams! The interfacing helped to eliminate that problem but it also made the collar a little stiff (this might be fixed after a few washes). I think it would be better if you used a cotton that isn't too lightweight for this project so that you don't have to use interfacing.

Did you make any alterations to this pattern? Yes, this is the first time I tried to alter a pattern prior to the muslin. I followed Nancy Zieman's "fitting finesse" which is where you adjust the pattern in increments by adding to the side seams and pivoting the pattern pieces. She also refers to this as "pattern fitting with confidence"; you can find it on Youtube.

I added approx. 1/2" to the bustline and 3/8" to the waistline of each seam. I dropped the bust dart because I discovered in the muslin fitting that it sat 1 1/2" too high and was 1 1/4" too short - this is to be expected with a junior/teen pattern. Although Nancy's fitting suggestions did help the fit in my waist and bust, the back was far too long. She recommends in her book that I add one inch difference to the back because of the comparison between my measurements and the pattern; I thought that seemed odd so I decided against it. I'm glad I did because the back proved to be too long anyways (I have this problem sometimes with patterns). In the future I plan on taking in less than an inch on the back piece by the yoke because otherwise the back sags a little. Also, since I made adjustments to the bust I think it effected the armscye because the facing didn't sit properly. I ended up finishing the armholes with home-made bias tape and catch stitched them into place.

Were the instructions well written and easy to follow? Everything was easy to follow except for the application of the collar, that was pretty bad. The diagram was clustered and not well done and the directions were somewhat muddled. I've applied a collar once before and felt that this pattern did not do a good job of explaining it, it made it more complicated than necessary. It does do it correctly it's just worded poorly and I'm sure a beginner would feel confused with this one. It also doesn't help that the blouse facing is just slightly longer than what I'm used to; normally I find it will line up with the shoulder seam but in this case it was a centimeter longer and was overlapping the shoulder seam (even after taking in the 1/4" hem). The diagram showed it as being exactly like that, so it's not a pattern piece error, it's literally over-sized for no good reason at all...

Why did you use this pattern? It's cute, I got it a few weeks ago and instantly fell in love with it for its simplistic design. I have a handful of blouse patterns and this one is the nicest looking out of all of them, so I figured what the hell, I'll give it a try. I love creating separates and I felt that this pattern could help build my wardrobe.

Are you happy with the final result? Sort of. The fit is okay, I messed up and forgot to add the additional length to the waistband that I had altered in the bodice. It sits a little snug at the waistline but it's not impossible to live with. I think my choice in fabric resulted in the blouse sitting kind of funny. It was advertised as children's spring cotton but I wonder if it's some kind of quilting cotton because it doesn't drape well (it's sort of frumpy). I also don't like how the back sags but as I mentioned above that could be fixed in the future. My biggest beef with this design is the placket: the placement of the buttons is off and the pattern does not use enough of them! It results in puckering (with peek-a-boobs) and the top button doesn't sit right. This pattern should use eight buttons total instead of six (four main buttons and two on the tab) and possibly use interfacing.

Overall, it's not terrible a looking blouse. It will make a nice lightweight top for warmer weather. I can always unbutton the top button since I don't like it so much. There's nothing I can do about the back issue unless I want to open up my armholes and right now I am not in the mood (I must have seam ripped those bloody things eight times over). I was going to sew this again soon but I think I'll wrap it back up and try something different. It's just too much of a headache right now.

Would you recommend this pattern to others and if so, what skill level? As I mentioned above, the instructions for the collar are kind of sketchy; I wouldn't recommend this project for a beginner. If you already have a handful of sewing projects under your belt then I don't think it would be too difficult for you to try this pattern. If you get stuck on the collar just search for "how to set a collar" on Youtube or the like. I've only ever made two 1950's blouses, and this one was by far the nicer looking blouse, but both had fit issues. You can easily pick this pattern up on Etsy or Ebay, I've seen it being sold at reasonable prices.

Would you sew this garment again? I might make this again using Version 2 out of another lightweight printed cotton. I'm not sure I'll ever make this sleeveless or using Version 3 again, it just had so many problems. I'll likely stash it and bring it out again in a month or so.


Happy sewing! ♥