The remaking of the 1940’s poncho style blouse

I recently made Simplicity 8593 which is a 1940s reproduction of a blouse with no side seams. The blouse doesn’t look good on me. It’s a beautiful blouse. I love the ruffles at the bottom and the big bow at the back. However, the length is too short (which is the usual style for 1940s blouses) and the arm hole area gapes too much. This, of course, is because it has no side seams and maybe for some bodies, it works to cover the bra area, but not on mine.

So I decided to re-make this blouse by adding side seams and lengthening the ruffles. I added 5/8 to the sides in order to make the side seams. I figured that it will be ok if there is a little extra fabric on the sides since there will be a bow that will be tied to the back. All the extra fabric will go with it. I wanted to make sure that I was able to put the blouse on over my arms. And it worked!

I added three inches to the ruffle as well as three inches to the back. I also shortened the bodice by 1 inch on both the front and the back. I guess my math was incorrect because the back was a little bit shorter, but it still looks ok since there are ruffles in the front anyway. Since I was using some leftover fabric that I had, I didn’t have enough fabric to make the big bow but I had enough fabric left to make one inch ties. I sewed up 5/8 on the sides and when I got to where I wanted the sleeve area to be, I hemmed it under by 5/8.

It turned out well. Here is the blouse: