Fair warning: I am insanely proud of this project.

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It may not look like much, but this little blouse is the product of my very. first. drafted. pattern.

It all started with a Stitchfix box.

I signed up for Stitchfix after a friend recommended it on Facebook. It’s a pretty neat service, actually, especially for people like me who loathe shopping with the fire of a thousand suns. You sign up, answer a bunch of quiz questions about your personal style preferences, and then with the frequency of your choosing (monthly, bi-monthly, or just whenever you ask for one) you get a box with five items picked for you by a professional stylist. You try on the stuff, keep what you want (and pay for it when you “check out” online) and send back what you don’t. It’s $20 per box, and the $20 is credited toward anything you purchase. Not a bad idea, right?

At any rate, I signed up to help fill out the “grown-up” part of my wardrobe that I needed for Awful Job, and was generally pretty happy with the stuff I got. In this particular box, there was a lovely rayon blouse in a sort of tie-dye pattern I wasn’t too crazy about. It had two layers in the front that cleverly folded over each other like the petals of a tulip. I loved it, but it was pricier than I could conscion, especially considering I wasn’t crazy about the fabric pattern. As I sat turning it over in my hands, it hit me:

The blouse was only two pattern pieces. With bias binding at the neckline and armholes. The hamster wheel in my brain began to turn and I grabbed my tracing paper, French curve, and a pencil. An hour later, I had a pattern.

I dug through my fabric stash and found a pretty floral rayon challis in a similar weight to the blouse, and got to work. And that above? My result.

I love it. It’s drapey and flowy and comfy and cool, and while I think I need to re-grade the armholes and neckline a bit for the next one I make, it’s a totally serviceable pattern that I made ALL BY MYSELF.

Sewing achievement: unlocked. Booyah.