Vogue 1127 - Badgley Mischka sleeveless bow blouse

Bow blouses are hot right now, and this was trend #1 on my fall/winter must sew list. To be honest with you, I never even noticed this pattern until I saw this review for it on Patternreview.com. Then I got to looking at the pattern envelope, and noticed the fabric they used for the example reminded me of this pink houndstooth charmeuse I purchased from JoAnn's around the same time. I could see it all made up in my mind's eye, easily worn with a sweater or jacket in colder months or by itself when warmer. That's pretty much all it takes to convince me to purchase a pattern!

Here's mine, being worn with a black wool skirt I made several years ago that is finally fitting again. It's amazing how many items in my closet this blouse matches - my hot pink wool skirt, my gray leopard wool skirt, my gray tweed pleated skirt, etc., not to mention various jackets and cardigans. I would have gotten some pictures of it with other things, but my photographer isn't especially keen on taking tons of pictures of me in different outfits. He can be a tiny bit cranky sometimes. :)

Here at the side you can get a feel for the looseness of it through the torso. It is actually cut like a trapeze dress with no indention for the waist. Since I wanted to wear it tucked in, I decided to cut the sides smaller and used Simplicity 2554 as my guide. Without having much shaping, the horizontal lines of the fabric needed only to be matched at the side seams.

My hair should probably be worn in a bun with this top as I think the back of the neck a really fun design feature. Incidentally, getting this over my head is a bit of a squeeze. I do have a larger then normal sized head, though, but wish I had made the opening an inch or so bigger.

Because of fabric limitations, I had to cut the bow a lot smaller then the pattern piece provided. Can you believe I cut off 8 inches from the center back ends of both sides of the tie?! I also cut the width down by 1 inch! That was one ginormous bow!!! Closer inspection of the pattern envelope leads me to believe it must also have been reduced in size.

I usually do not go for these sorts of loose and flowy designs, and I especially don't like my neck being constricted with too much fabric. That fear of feeling choked, coupled with my fabric shortage, caused the need for some modifications to the collar. Here it is without the ties around it. This front part I cut on the bias as instructed, but cut the height down by the same inch as the ties.

For the inside of the collar, I cut a much narrower height - 3.5" including seam allowances - the same height you are instructed to gather your back collar to, and also cut it on the bias. Then I fused knit interfacing to the back to give it some stability but still enable it to stretch a bit. The outer collar was attached to the inner collar, and rows of gathering stitch were put in at the side seams. Then I sewed the outer collar to the gathered neckline of the blouse, stitched the backs of the collars together, and slip-stitched the inner collar to the inside of the blouse. Make sense?

After the collar was attached and finished on the inside, I gathered up my side gathering stitches and topstitched the outer collar to the inner collar at the sides. This was done to further restrict the fabric from bunching up under my neck. It turned out to be a very neat finish, and is completely hidden under the ties when being worn.

 This pattern provided for some nice finishing inside touches, including directions for french seams and a piece for bias bound armholes. Oh, I forgot to mention that I made the size 8 and I'm normally a 10-12 for tops. The underarms were a pretty tight fit, so I cut them down by 1 inch. The bias binding still worked, though, so I didn't have to recut larger pieces.

It's a fun little top with lots of outfit variations. And incidentally, I had a question from Veronica when I posted that Cynthia Rowley plaid skirt. Here is what she asked:

Cute skirt! So, I've been a lurker for sometime. I love your blog. Question...I see that you're a SAHM. Where do you wear most of these items? I ask because I want to sew more for myself but I work from home so I'm torn with wanting to make more clothes like what you make and just making lounge stuff over and over...know what I mean? I'm trying to "justify" making nicer clothes, I guess...if that makes any sense! :)

I find myself being asked ALOT why I am so dressed up on what appears to be an average day. I am a stay-at-home-mom after all, I should adhere to the jeans and a t-shirt dress code for my job, right? The problem is I like pretty clothes. I like to feel put together and that I look nice. What is the point of having a closet full of nice garments if you never plan to wear them? I recommend all of you stay-at-home types try it for at least a week. You'll feel better about yourself; find yourself eating better and taking care of your body. You'll get better service from salespeople at stores and more smiles from complete strangers.