Yay - it's finished!

I spent several hours yesterday after work (actually, about 4-1/2 hours) working on my blouse and finished all except the pocket. That alone took me about an hour today. And, as it is, I wish I would have made the flaps smaller. Also, in order to wear this blouse with a belt, as is shown on the model, you would have to have it be several inches longer or the belt will cut the pocket across the middle.

I'm not thrilled with the blouse, but I have learned a lot through the process. As you can see in the picture, it pulls a little when I move my arms. I find this on a lot of my blouses and think I need more room in the front of the armhole. It really isn't that it is too high, just that it seems to be too snug in the front of the arm. I've already gone back in and altered my pattern to take 1" off the side seams on each side at the hip. I added that in and I don't like the way it makes the blouse stick out at the bottom. I would really like this better if I were to take out those flatfelled seams on the sides and take them in. This fabric is hard to "unstitch" so I doubt I will do it. Now that I have worked this hard on this pattern, I would like to make it again with a few more tweaks.

I like the long cuffs and I think they are slenderizing on the arms, but they are a bear to button. Fortunately, I can easily get my hands in and out by only unbuttoning the bottom button, so the others will stay buttoned.