How I created a pattern from a garment and enlarged it too!

A while ago I shared a post on Social media about a vintage blouse that I’d owned for years but which had fallen apart in places and was beyond repair.

I had kept this blouse because I really loved it and eventually (20 odd years later) the idea hit me to unpick it and make a pattern from it so that I could reproduce it in as many colours or patterns as I wanted.

All good so far. It was relatively easy to make up and I was so pleased with it. I actually made it up in my Skylon print and made binding for the armholes and the top of the pockets from my Modesto print. It looked fantastic until I tried it on and realised that I had last worn the said blouse well over 20 years ago and had neglected to consider the fact that I may have expanded a little since then!

It fits my daughter really well but is not really her style so it is now residing unworn in my wardrobe.
Seeing these photos again I now realise I really do need to get on with making myself a bigger version in this print for the summer.
Anyway once I had gotten over my disappointment I decided to have a look at pattern resizing. I had never tried resizing anything before and had only ever made minor adjustments to anything I’d sewn.

I read a few online articles and then settled on this one from Melly Sews  https://mellysews.com/make-sewing-pattern-bigger-smaller/

The blouse needed a good 2 inches adding but after reading the article a few times I realised that with 2 vertical cuts on each front pattern piece and the same on the back I would only need to add an eighth of an inch to each cut to give the size increase I needed.

I redrew the new spaced out pattern and to be on the safe side (in case it didn’t work) made it up in a beige cotton that I had lying around and edged the pockets and armholes with black bias binding (again that was just lying around) and I think it has turned out really well for a first attempt. Next time I will add a bit more length, just a couple of inches so the pockets don’t sit on the bottom hem, and increase the bust and hip area a bit more. I don’t like the way it splays out at the front bottom hem.
Not very flattering photos I’m afraid and I think it might need a bit more work but at least I can get into this one!

To sum up I was encouraged to discover how simple the process was, although I didn’t get this quite right first time I feel as if I have learned a lot from the experience.