Finished - DIY melony pussy bow Ottobre goodness

Remember ages ago, when I went through my 1 year of Ottobre Design Woman subscription, and was a little bit underwhelmed by (but still faintly hopeful for) the snazziness of the designs? I've finally gotten around to making one of them, using a basic kimono sleeve shirt pattern (yay for kimono sleeves - no sleeve setting!) to have a crack at a DIY pussy bow neckline.

I've been yearning for a tie-neck blouse for ages, but have been a bit too cheap sensibly thrifty to buy a pattern - I've wavered between making a bound keyhole neckline vs a traditional shirt neckline and ended up with the latter for this experiment. After looking at some other patterns and some RTW blouses I figured I'd probably be ok if I just made a really long tie piece, and attach it like a standard neck binding, leaving the ends long to tie - worked a treat! I had it in my head that not only would I try the pussy bow neck tie, I would also make it sleeveless and maybe have a concealed button placket, but I came to my senses over mucking around with the placket on this one....

I used the rather randomly named Triangle pattern, from Spring/Summer 2/2013:

I cut a size 34 based on my bust measurement, but like my Tyler shirt (another European pattern....hmmmm) it was way way to tight across my bust, and I had to do some fairly funky readjustment with the button stand to be able to close in a decent manner over my chest. I trimmed a triangle off each sleeve to make it more of a sleeveless shirt for summer - I probably didn't take quite enough off and am in that slightly unflattering cap sleeve length where it chops me off right at my bingo-wing, but it's ok. It fits fine everywhere else.

The pattern, as you can see, is very simple - a bust dart and a shoulder dart in the back, for a nice relaxed fit.

The fabric is a glorious coral-melon silk-cotton blend I found in the remnant bin at Darn Cheap Fabrics for about $6 - total bargain. In previous makes where i have used silk-cotton I have found the seams tend to pucker a little - after some reading this time I tried reducing my stitch length from my standard 2.5 down to 2 and it worked a treat! It is quite sheer, but I do have a bra that is almost the same colour, so I'm not too worried about looking indecent.

I've used some lovely vintage buttons that I forgot to get a decent close up on, and my Husky behaved well with the button holes thank goodness. She's been a bit of a bitch lately on buttonholes (maybe she needs a service but the idea of having her out of the house fills me with panic!) but was quite good on this delicate fabric.

I always planned to wear this tucked in more often than not - it'll be fine for my more high waisted skirts and shorts:

I can see in the picks some diagonal pulling but I think thats just from my dodgy quick tuck-in without a mirror. It doesn't look like this IRL!

So thats another box ticked for my summer wardrobe. Despite all my faffing with this pattern I'm happy with how it has worked out - I do love a neck tie!