Refashioned Dress Shirt One Seam Blouse

I made this blouse last year, took pictures, and then completely forgot to share it! This is my first draft of a new pattern, my one seam blouse, I drafted up with my sloper. I was playing around making a top with only one seam cut on the fold at center back. Below you’ll see a graphic which shows how I drafted this design. Easy to recreate if you have your own sloper or a top that fits you well. I added a deep dart that goes from the waist up to the bust and a nice wide hem at 3.5″. This version has a placket at center front which was added to the base pattern below. You could easily sew this up the center front and slip this over your head.

This practice version is a wearable muslin repurposed out of my husbands worn out dress shirts. You can see (image below) I added a second seam at an angle up the side (under the armpit) to piece my fabrics together. There’s also an extra seam in there that was from the original shirt that I just worked as one.

I worked with the fabric I had and kept the original button plackets of the shirt. I used about three shirts to make this. One for the front, one for the back and one for some bias to finish my neck and armholes. These shirts mostly had wear at the neck and collar and cuffs, but the rest was all usable. I love a good refashion!

The blouse is shown here with my button placket side seam white twill pants. I also used this pattern for my Madeira style blouse.

This is a great simple summer top- Comfy and easy to wear. I’m making a new version this week which reminded me to post my muslin first!

I’m also working on embroidering my new Hibiscus design onto a Koos Van Den Akker Vogue jacket (V1493) in a salmon deadstock silk that I can’t wait to share! I posted my first video on my Sew Pomona YouTube channel if you want to check out my process. I’m sharing weekly videos that show how I design, embroider and sew the pattern start to finish.

Back soon with some spring makes! Happy Sewing!