Goodbye Hawes and Curtis!? I know, it's not half as glamorous as saying Goodbye to Valentino but it it is what it is!

For those who don't know, Hawes and Curtis are a retailer in the UK specialising in  shirts and accessories.  I own about 11 of their shirts and one pair of their cufflinks, so safe to say I got a lot of their stuff that  I'm happy with.


However, after purchasing this red blouse for approx £25, I started to have buyers regret.

Why did I just buy a polyester blouse for that amount of money when I nowadays I don't even buy polyester for my fabric stash, even during the times I can't afford more than £3 a yard material?  So the challenge was on. 

Now, once upon a time, I used to buy polyester. I had a bit of blue polyester left over from a frock that had gone horribly wrong and I've had in the scraps for the last decade. I'm a fan of pussy bow blouses, so I found a use for those polyester scraps.

 

I was in a lazy mood, so I actually used an old 90's New Look shirt pattern as a basis.  I've never made a pussy bow blouse before or used a commercial pattern for many years so there was scope for a disaster here.  So on I pressed without doing any kind of toile!

 I just drafted a long piece of fabric long enough to go around my neck, down past the chest and tapered at the ends. I changed the cuff elongating it so I could have a least four buttons. I recycled buttons from my Mum's long discarded blouse from the late eighties.


I think it turned out OK.  I feel good wearing it and considering the buttons were free, the material was a couple of pounds a yard, and I didn't use much thread, I'd call this a bargain.

Can I make more of my own shirts and blouses and wave goodbye to the retail shirtmakers?.......