When I bought this gorgeous fabric from Guthrie and Ghani (I think in around April), I planned to make an Anderson Blouse (by Sew Over It) and I’m glad I’ve finally finished it! It’s a crepe fabric and it has a really nice drape – though I think it might have been a little too thick for this pattern as the gathers on the shoulders and then hem look a bit bulky, but not so much that I won’t wear it loads.

I’ve really liked coral as a colour for quite a while – I wanted to make the jacket I eventually made in mustard for a wedding in coral but couldn’t find any good fabric. Also it’s one of those colours that’s not one colour – it’s anything from orange to pink, but this fabric is the perfect shade for me.

I think the pattern says to put ribbon through the hem, but I decided to use elastic instead – I almost wasn’t going to put anything through, but there was a bit too much fabric around the hem, even for my baggy-top-loving taste.

I made this blouse in the size 8 and made only one fitting change, which was to cut 1.5cm off the shoulder of the top (and not off the top of the sleeve). This is because the sleeve was too long on my arm, because the shoulder seam was quite far down my arm and I thought I could fix the sleeve length by raising it up by moving the shoulder seam. I used the pattern pieces to take the 1.5cm off, to make sure the arm hole was the same size as before, so I knew the sleeve would still fit.

I added a popper/snap to the neckline as I had heard the pattern gapes quite a lot, and I’m glad I did – the 2 sides of the top are only attached at the bottom, where they go into the hem, so it would definitely gape without the popper. I’ve still worn it with a vest top underneath just in case of accidental flashing!

This is my sort of outtake for this post! I was trying to show the cuffs and the buttons – which are ones I took off my raglan tee refashion top and were a perfect colour match for this top, hurray! But I ended up looking a bit like Mr Burns. I was going for a Tom Hiddleston pose – anyone else notice he often poses holding his cufflinks (or where cufflinks would be, assuming he’s not always wearing them)?

Although I found the instructions a little confusing at times – mostly because I was low on colour ink so the photos didn’t print properly, and the photos really do help to ‘illustrate’ the instructions – I think I would make this top again. It’s a good, slightly smarter top for work. I would use a lighter weight fabric next time, though.