Best and Worst of 2016  and learned the tragic fate of the beautiful black and yellow floral print ruffle blouse.

Determined not to be bested by a pattern, I decided to make it again, with some modifications to accommodate my growing baby bump. I basically added extra girth around the waist and extra length in the front.

The fabric for this blouse was better than the black and yellow floral, but not by much. I didn’t have to stabilize this fabric to work with it, but it is quite fray-ey. I made sure to serge everything I cut out as quickly as possible and handle the fabric as little as I could. So far, the dots appear to be holding it together better than the flowers.

The ruffles continue to be an issue. When I last made this pattern, I used my rolled hem foot to finish the ruffles and struggled immensely on the curve (but only on one side, it had to do with the angle I was approaching the curve, I think). For this blouse, I decided to not finish the ruffles, as the pattern asks. I didn’t have the space to cut the fabric on the bias, so I sewed a seam 1/4 inch from the edge and used fray stop. The ruffles have frayed any way, but I’ve decided to let it go and decided it would just add a little interest to the jabots.

I decided to do self-covered buttons again, mostly because I didn’t have anything suitable and really didn’t feel like heading out for buttons. This time, I interfaced a 6×6 inch square and cut my little circles out of that. This helped immensely to make the fabric more manageable, which is important when dealing with such little bits. It did, however, make the fabric thicker and it was much more difficult to squish the backings on to the button. It made it work, however.

The only other thing I did differently this time around was I trimmed a little bit off of the arm holes to get a slightly more delicate feel. I think I took too much off (and pregnancy boobs make things tighter), so I’m not totally happy with how it hangs around my arms.

The last thing that is keeping this blouse from being my favourite is the bit I scorched at the bottom of the button band. I’m dealing with a new iron and apparently this fabric is very synthetic and burned right through. Luckily, the interfacing saved it from making a hole. It’s not hugely noticeable, but I’ll see it.