A blouse from Folkwear's #205 Gibson Girl. The yoke is 100% cotton embroidered lawn, purchased a few years ago with this pattern in mind. The body is in a plain matching cotton lawn with shell buttons for the back closure, french seams and self-bindings throughout.
The pattern has a very wide shoulder line. After the first mockup a few years ago, it seemed to need adjusting. But now I see it looks appropriate for the 1900s. This blouse will be worn with my turn-of-the-century bicycling and everyday ensemble.
I wanted my embroidery to look as though it were intentionally designed for the blouse. But my eyelet fabric has an asymmetrical pattern. I recut it twice before settling on a version I liked: lining up the clusters of flowers so they followed the curve of the yoke. It also took two tries to cut the collar. When I included eyelets, it was a mess. Now the collar has embroidered stems only and no eyelet holes.
Alterations included a taller collar - and I used my trusty Laughing Moon guimpe pattern for a closer fit. The sleeves were cut fuller and shorter so they poof out around elbow level. The hem was lengthened. The gathers at the back waist were too high for me, so I decided to skip them. I can always add a waist tape later.