Monday, June 15, 2009

The Sincerest Form of Flattery


If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, then I make a habit of flattering companies like Laura Ashley, Cath Kidston, Victorian Trading Co., and -- most recently -- Anthropologie!

When a garment is too expensive, too immodest, etc., I like to put my own spin on it. So when I saw the "Sweet William Blouse" on Anthropologie a few months ago, I saved a picture to my "inspiration files." It was a mere $128 on the website, but I just decided it would be more fun to make it... *ahem*

So here's my version:



The fabric is a blue-and-white striped "mystery" fabric that's been in our cupboard for ages. The bodice pattern is -- well, do I really need to tell you? Okay, how many of you guessed Simplicity 4499? *wink* I improvised the sleeve ruffle, which was actually pretty simple. I added a tie to the back, just for fun:



I didn't want something quite as frilly as the rosettes on the original blouse (it's hard to see from the tiny picture, but they're quite overhwelming!), so I found a fabulous rolled roses tutorial on Sandi Henderon's website. They're addictively fun to make!



I still have some more stashbusting to share, and some still in the works. And yes, one of these days I will start "real" work on my wedding dress! I've designed it, picked fabrics, and done some prelimary experimenting -- but I won't start the "real" thing until we've moved (we're down to about 2 or 3 weeks!). Exciting times. Busy times. VERY busy times...

10 comments:

  1. Oh, it's a very lovely blouse!

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  2. How in the world do you come up with such fabulous titles! I love them.

    Tiffany

    P.S. The shirt is very cute. ;-)

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  3. Hi Shannon,
    What a beautiful blouse!
    Now I am truly going to flatter you and say that I'm going to save that and hope to make too!
    I agree the rosettes were too frilly; I love the rolled roses you put on!

    P.S. I can't wait for wedding dress details!

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  4. absolutely beautiful! great work :)

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  5. Oh my....
    your blouse is lovely!!! :)

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  6. I am also a fan of Anthopologie, but can't quite hand over all that money for just a piece of clothing.

    Your version of the blouse is lovely. I really like how you pay attention to details.

    I can't wait to see your wedding dress!

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  7. Oh wow! That's amazing!

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  8. I wish I could make my own clothing but I can't sew for the life of me!

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  9. That is a really pretty blouse! I hadn't heard of Cath Kidston until a few months ago through the blogosphere. While our family was in England a few weeks ago, we got to go to one of her shops! There was so much nice stuff there (and fabric!)
    ~Julia
    I'm not sure if I've ever commented before, but I've been reading your blog for a while now!

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