Getting Back to McCalls 4922

Last October I wrote a post on how I was going to make McCalls 4922. And here it is, about 4 1/2 months later, and I'm finally talking about the finished garment. I'm so woefully behind on pattern reviews! Here's the pattern:

It's a perfect pattern for a princess-seamed blouse that works for our school's uniform policy. I made the shirt to fit me and DD#2. She liked this blouse, but decided she didn't want it because...it was white and she didn't want a white blouse. This just adds to my frustration of sewing for her. I still have to review this blouse and a Burda blouse which I also made for her but ended up in my closet. She's always nit-picky about things.

Her Burda complaint was valid because the sleeves were too short. It was the first time I ever used Burda WOF and pretty much made it as-is to check the sizing. A little snug in my bust (but not hers), and the sleeves were definitely too short. A little snug in the upper back, needed a forward shoulder and sleeve adjustment, you know, the same things needed in a Big 4 pattern for me. And the cotton shirting fabric for the Burda style was simply too stiff. The fabric used for it has to have more drape.

Anyway...back to McCall's 4922. Here is how it ended up:

I really like this blouse so I'm glad she didn't like the color white :) . I used a 10 at the neck and shoulders and morphed to the 14 from upper bust down. I love the blended sizes because I end up not having to do an FBA. Sometimes I might need to create an armhole dart if there's not enough shaping and transfer it elsewhere, but not so with this pattern.

The styling change I made on the pattern was to create bust gathers near the bust area of the buttoned front placket shown below:

Here is the styling change on the blouse closeup below:

DD#2 and I saw this detailing in lots of RTW blouses and she liked this. So I slashed/spread the CF pattern piece to create the gathers. I think maybe an 1/2" more of gathers would be even nicer. We'll see the next time I make this blouse. My alterations to this pattern included:

1. 1/4" narrow shoulder


2. 1/2" added sleeve length


3. 1/2" added hem length


4. removed 1/4" front sleeve ease

Really, very minor alterations, essentially just tweaks. The fit of this blouse is really superb, my only wishes for this blouse was it could be longer and made out of a fabric with more drape. The 100% cotton shirting fabric is fine, but it wrinkles like crazy and is kind of stiff. My wardrobe really needs a long white blouse that can be belted. It was made to the hem length of the school's policy because it was supposed to be for DD#2, and I prefer curved hemlines because I think it's more flattering on my figure. I love, love, LOVE the sleeve options: 3/4 length or full length. I prefer 3/4 ones because I'm a SAHM and working at the kitchen sink often leaves me with wet sleeve hems with long sleeves.

Here's the back. The wrinkles are because I'm twisting around to take the pic. It is actually very smooth with no swayback "puddling".

Here's a pic that show a different perspective and proportion:

In the next few days I'll try to review this blouse at PR. But my assessment of this pattern is that it is a winner, a must-have pattern. It's so versatile and different fabrics will really change the look of the blouse.