Picnic Blouse Tutorial

Are you enjoying nice summer weather? Cause I am not. It has been raining cats and dogs lately! But I know that one day the sun will come back out to play and when it does I will be ready with a PICNIC BLOUSE, easy breezy. { a great blouse for nursing MOms}Do you want one too? All you need is 2 old pillow cases worth of fabric, some elastic and you are on your way.

The first piece you will need is a front.

Followed by a back

And 2 sleeves

A ruffle {x2} 6"x 32"long

First you take your front and back right sides facing each other and sew a straight stitch along the sides.

make sure you match up the sides, not like shown in the above picture.

Then take the sleeves {hem the exposed edge first} and sew the smallest edges together. place the sleeve {right side out}, inside the shirt that is inside out. Right sides should be facing each other. If you look at the picture of the sleeve pattern up above there is a longer side. That side is the back, and the short is the front.

What you should have now is a wide neck shapeless blouse.

So you are going to want to fold the top of the blouse over {towards the inside} and sew a straight stitch. Make sure you make it wide enough to string the elastic through and leave an opening. take a piece of elastic about 30" long with a safety pin on both ends, string it through.

And then stitch elastic together, sew the top closed.

Sew your 2 pieces of ruffles together, follow this tutorial to learn how to make a ruffle. Lay the ruffle inside out on top of the bottom of the blouse right side out {right sides facing} and attatch the ruffle to the blouse.

And ta da! you have the perfect blouse, so go out and enjoy the day!

P.s. I added a belt to give it a waist, you dont have to make one, but if you want to you can simply measure your waist add 10-15" cut a piece of fabric that length. sew it and flip it inside out, wrap around your waist and tie it in a pretty little bow! Confused probably, I am not the best at explaining these things. Questions? just ask!

A few tips :
Always press your seams with a hot iron.
use the same color thread as your fabric. This always adds a touch of professionalism. {not like my white thread that sticks out.}