Pink Box Box Blouse

My first Sudoku wardrobe project was the Box Box top by Merchant & Mills. I've had this pattern for over a year and have been wanting to try it so this was the perfect time! 

This was one of only two new fabrics in my wardrobe plan. I really wanted the right colour of pink so bought some cotton at my local Fabricland. It's so pretty, though quite lightweight and fairly transparent. I thought a top with front pleats might work well with the fabric. 

It was pretty straightforward. The pattern was well designed with lots of markings to help form the pleats. There is also a stitch guide for the "Z" shaped stitching that holds down the pleats. I found that I had to lengthen the pattern -- I added 1.5" to the hem when cutting, but then also ended up giving it a narrow hem to keep as much length as possible. Might add a touch more next time to account for more hem! 

Another nice detail of this simple top was the back neckine opening. There is a slit and a button and loop. They give instructions for a rouleau loop to button it up so I thought I'd try it. I can't believe I got my hook loop turner to finally work and got a tiny rouleau that I was very pleased with! 

The neckline facing was one more thing I had to fiddle with a bit. This fabric is quite lightweight, so I cut the facings and interfaced them with lightweight fusible - that all worked fine, but when I was testing the position of it I noticed that I could see the white interfacing through the blouse. Ack! But the fabric is too lightweight to have a non-interfaced facing. I couldn't really use binding because of the back slit, either. So I cut another facing and layered it with the existing one, sandwiching the fusible in between. After that, I couldn't see the interfacing from the outside or the inside, which was perfect. And the fabric is so floaty that it didn't add any excess weight either. 

I considered using french seams because of the fabric but hadn't accounted for that when I cut it out so just trimmed and pressed the seams to one side and hoped it would be fine. I think it is: I don't notice the seam allowances through the blouse, unless I'm looking for them. And I would be the only one doing that! 

It fits really nicely (I made size 14) and the instructions were clear. The only small issues I had with it were down to my fabric choice. But with this colour, I had to do it!