Florence For The Holidays

I’m posting today with another pattern tour, but this one has a twist.  The Florence Christmas Blog Tour is also a competition!

The Florence blouse from MadeIt Patterns is a lovely tailored shirt for girls that has the option of a waterfall frill or a simple bow tie to dress up the front placket.  The sleeve is gathered at the shoulder and cuff for even more of a feminine touch.

Those of us on the tour were tasked with creating a Florence with a Christmas theme and a bit of something different to make it our own.  Since I love the look of that waterfall frill, I knew I had to use that part of the pattern and the only change I made to it was to make each frill two sided with the gold rick-rack sandwiched on the edges.  This was a simple mod and one you could recreate yourself.  Simply cut out four of the frills instead of two and instead of hemming the open edges, take two of the frills and sew those sides right side together and then flip the piece right side out.  Press the seams and insert the frills according to the rest of the pattern instructions.

This Shetland flannel from Imagine Gnats (*affiliate link) was asking to become a Christmas blouse, so I used some gold buttons and rick-rack to bring a bit more holiday to the look.  For an extra splash of my own flavor I took the sleeves and added a gathered panel to the center of each.  Again, this is something you could recreate.  I took the original sleeve pattern, cut it into three sections: back, front and a middle panel an inch wide that ran down the center of the pattern.  I took a piece of red jersey knit, gathered it down the middle (using my ruffler foot *affiliate link), and cut the gathered length to match the middle panel.  Don’t forget to add seam allowances to the cut edges of the new pattern pieces before cutting your fabric!

Sew the middle panel of each sleeve to the back and front pieces so you’ll have complete sleeves again (they should match the size and shape of the original sleeve pattern at this point) and continue with the rest of the pattern tutorial for inserting the sleeve.  I did a lot of topstitching on this blouse as well, but that was just personal preference and isn’t necessary.

The Florence runs from sizes 2Y to 10Y and I made a 3T according to Bean’s sizes on the measurement chart which I think fits just right.

If you’re wondering what Bean is wearing WITH the Florence, it’s a Two Haute Skort from Lil’ Luxe Collection.  I’ll tell you all about how much I love that pattern too in a few weeks….. but now it’s time for you to weigh in on which Florence on the tour you think hit the mark with the theme and any alterations made!  Just click here and leave a comment about which you liked the best and why.

Using the coupon code Tour20 will get you 20% off of MadeIt pdf patterns through Sunday the 23rd 7pm EST.  If you make your own Florence you should take a photo and post it on the MadeIt Patterns Facebook Page because Anna will pick one of them at the end of January to win a free MadeIt Pattern of the winner’s choice!  You may have noticed that Anna of MadeIt Patterns doesn’t have a blog, so a huge thank you goes out to Olu from Needle and Ted who organized and hosted this great tour.  Even if you don’t take the time to comment on the Florence patterns, you should head to Needle and Ted to take in some of Olu’s awesome posts.