Simplicity 2923, Notched Collar Blouse with Directional Stripes

When I ran across Simplicity 2923 in the book, I was drawn by the brown version, looked at the line drawing, was repulsed by the blousy waist, looked more closely at the line drawing, and was drawn back in by the notched collar and interesting raglan sleeve and back yoke design. It's part of the Project Runway series. Is Simplicity putting out any patterns nowadays that aren't? It kind of loses its luster when it's overused. Anyway, there was no way I was making this into a shirtdress as drafted with the blousy waist, but I thought it would make a nice blouse with a bit of a 40s vibe.

This navy striped rayon is part of The Carol Collection, and I was tickled by the idea of playing with directional stripes. To that end, I modified the pattern a fair amount. In addition to my usual princess seam SBA at side front (see photo), I cut the back yoke in two pieces so I could get a chevron pattern with bias stripes, eliminated the back darts and replaced them with a single released dart/inverted pleat at center back, left off the front darts, and cut the side fronts on the bias. I cut the sleeves as drafted, but I had to sew a strip of fabric to the shoulder and the cuff to keep the sleeves from sliding down my arm and losing the big poof.

I did a pretty good job of matching the stripes (not like my usual self!), though if you look closely at the front you can see I did a better job matching the side front stripes to the raglan sleeve better on one side than the other. It's still better than most RTW and that's good enough for me, LOL.

The shirt ended up a nice addition to my closet. It's fun to wear but good for days when I don't want to stick out too much! I'm going to look for more notched collars. I like the way they open up and lay flat.

All photos are here and the pattern review is here.