And here is my finished Now and then ‘Amelie Tuck Blouse’ which I have had my eye on for quite a while now and was lucky enough to have Minerva gift it to me as part of the Ambassador program. Now and then patterns are now exclusively available through Minerva.

This is such a cute blouse and it's going to be lovely for Summer in this raspberry cotton lawn which I bought at the Minerva Spring Fest.

I thought as it was my first time making it and the collar looked a little tricky to sew, I would sew it in an ‘easy sew’ well behaved fabric like Lawn. I also didnt want a too 'busy' fabric as I thought the key design elements like the collar would be lost.

I actually made it to my size and was a bit lazy and didn’t do a toile (naughty me!) I thought I might need a Full bust adjustment but I took a chance as I wasn’t sure how to do it with the pleated waist which I have to say I really love. I was worried the buttons might gape at the bust but I think I got away with it!

The instructions say you can either sew the pleats on the outside or inside whichever is your preference. I decided to make it with them on the inside as my thread wasn’t the perfect match and it would have shown if I made them on the outside but I think I prefer them like that.

I have to say the collar is the 2nd version as I wasn’t happy with version one, somehow I managed to get the pointy bits different and not symmetrical, luckily I had enough fabric left and the 2nd one went much better and I am happy with it.

I knew turning it to get sharp points was going to be a challenge on this one but was important to . I was worried that my usual metal straw and wooden kebab skewer might accidentally go through the fabric and my friend Susie told me at the weekend about a method she uses to get sharp points but I admit I didn't quite understand as I am a visual learner and was one of the reason’s version 1 didn’t go to plan but I managed to find some instructions which i believe is what she was telling me and this was a game changer, it takes a bit longer and probably this wasn’t the best collar to try it for the first time but completely worth it to get nice sharp points, i have included the link below.

https://sewingladyblog.com/2015/07/05/collars-tips-and-techniques/

Also love the inverted pleats on the sleeves which really add a lovely little touch to this blouse

It really has a 1930s/1940s feel to the design, here I have done vintage classic styling with hair and some of my vintage pearls but equally can be modern with different styling and hair.

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