Simplicity 1692 - Lovely Leopard

I've spent this past week working on Simplicity 1692. I decided to do View B, and I picked this lovely leopard print cotton that I purchased from a buy/sell/trade group I'm a part of. I had just the right amount for the blouse. As I have discussed in the past, my wardrobe is in desperate need of some separates so this is the first in an effort to remedy that situation.

If you follow me on Instagram, you may have already seen some of these. I've been posting my progress updates all week!

This was the progress after the first night. I had all the darts and tucks sewn, along with the bodice sides and shoulders stitched and serged.

After the second night, I had the back opening faced and the button and loop added. I also had the neckline bound and hand stitched down.

Night three saw the sleeves attached and bound. All that was left at this point was to add a zipper... (I would have done that sooner but I didn't have one the right size and color) and add the decorative bows on the arms and neckline.

They were added this morning. The pattern calls for an invisible zipper and that requires an invisible zipper foot. I don't have one of those and I'm terrible at inserting zippers by machine. So... I hand picked the invisible zipper! I'm so pleased with how it turned out. It's completely invisible and I'm very proud of it. I promise I will work on zippers and learning to insert them by machine in the very near future... Maybe.

So here's some pictures of the finished top. Modeled by my lovely purple headless assistant Millie.

I'm also very proud of the inside of this top. All my seams are completely serged and finished neatly. It's as lovely inside as it is outside.

And finally some pictures of the top on me... Ignore my lack of makeup and my 'hanging-out-around-the-house-with-the-kids' hair. Please. The fit on this blouse is pretty good. It's a bit snug in the arms, but that is normally a problem I have with both hand made and ready to wear tops. Guess I'm going to have to do a few more arm workouts each week.

All in all this was a great make and I'm pleased with how it turned out. This makes #VintagePledge make number four for me this year! I pledged five so I should have that knocked out soon. I'd love to double my pledge this year. 

Thanks again for hanging out through this. I hope everyone has a wonderful Memorial Day weekend (here in the states) and remember the reason why we get to celebrate this weekend. #rememberthebrave