Mexican Baby Blouse (+ Free Pattern for size 12-18 months)

DOWNLOAD PATTERN HERE

Today some other blogging friends and I are writing posts as a little ‘Thank You’ to Anne of Craft Gossip. You see, us bloggers really appreciate any traffic sent our way, and Anne is always so very kind to do so. I always see a nice jump in numbers when she links to something on my blog, and of course when you see that happen, it’s exciting–not because I’m overly concerned with numbers, but most craft and sewing bloggers like to please. So if something she posts sends people my way, well then I hope it’s because they saw something they like. With comments taking a dive the last couple of years, sometimes the only way we know if people are still “into” what we are posting, is by our numbers. All this to say, THANK YOU Anne! Thank you for taking your time to not only post and link to us, but for including sweet little write-ups that are often times better than my own intro for the post. I was so touched by her words when she linked to THIS post on her blog HERE. It was just so sweet of her to include the reason I made the Zipper Hearts in the first place. That is just the kind of person she is…always sweet and encouraging and well, she makes me feel like I have something worth posting when she links. So Anne, thank you! You’ve helped my blog grow over the years and I appreciate it more than I can say. This one’s for you!

You can click HERE to see what the others are doing.

I had a difficult time figuring out what to name the post–maybe I should change it to The Anne Blouse ;).

I asked some blogging buddies and there were some good title suggestions–southwestern blouse, bohemian blouse all came up–all good ideas…and ultimately I decided to stick with what I originally was inspired for, which were Mexican Blouses. Particularly the beautiful flower embroidered ones. I’ve been [this] close to purchasing them for my girls and I. But I always back out. They are so pretty though.

Clearly, this isn’t an embroidered blouse, as much as I wish I had time to do so. I would love to someday but that someday isn’t any day soon. So when I saw this fabric in Joann, I snagged it up because it reminded me of the pretty blouses, and grabbed some gauze fabric and decided it must become a blouse inspired by the beautiful Mexican Blouses. So here it is.

The pattern is for a size 12-18 month. Ruby is almost 21 months old but in ready-to-wear clothes she is still in some 12 months and some 18 months. So I figured to be safe, sizing it at 12-18 months would be best. Her chest and waist measurements are both 50 cm, just to give you an idea, so measure to see if you think it will fit. Ultimately, I am wanting to grade this pattern to be more sizes down the road but I have a lot of learning to do first in order for that to happen, so it may be a while. Until then, I hope you will be able to enjoy this size for the wee ones in your life ;).

What you’ll need for the size 12 month pattern included:  3/4 yard gauze fabric, and about 1/4 yard of some awesome patterned fabric. And the pattern which you can download HERE*. All seam allowances are 3/8″.

First cut out your pattern pieces. 2 of the bottom “skirt” of the blouse, 4 total white gauze bodice piece, 1 pattern bodice piece, and 2 sleeves.

Baste or zig-zag stitch the patterned bodice and one of the gauze pieces. The wrong side of the patterned fabric will be on top of the right side of the gauze.

Take one of the other gauze bodice pieces and place it right sides together with the piece you just stitched or basted together.  Sew just at the shoulder seams.

Repeat with the two remaining bodice pieces.

Press the seams open. Open the pieces and place them right sides together, matching seems and corners of the opening. Pin around the entire head opening.

Sew, starting at a shoulder seam. Make sure at the corners to stop, lift presser foot, and pivot. 

Now clip into the corners, making sure to not clip through the stitching.

Flip the pieces so that they are right side out. Now topstitch close to the edge, around the entire opening.  (Sorry I didn’t get a picture of that step).

Take one of the sleeves and pin in place. 

Sew the curve edge of sleeve where it’s pinned in place in the picture above. Clip curves of the sleeve and then repeat for other sleeve.

Take one of the bottom rectangles and use a basting stitch to sew along the top (making sure not past the 3/8″ line so the basting stitches don’t show when finished). 

Pin it to the bottom of the bodice front, adjusting the gathers to fit the length of the bodice bottom.  Sew. Repeat with the other skirt portion and sew to back of bodice bottom.

So here’s where we are at.  Side seams and hems are all that’s left! 

Place right sides together, matching side seams.  Sew from the bottom of the sleeve to the hem of the blouse. Repeat with other side of blouse.

Iron the sleeve bottom folded 1/4″, then another 1/4″ to enclose the raw edge.  Pin and topstitch. Repeat with other sleeve and then with the hem as well. 

All finished!

Um, so that was a lot of pictures, but she’s just too cute, I couldn’t decide which ones to take away, so I kept a lot. It was really really cold when we took these! I wanted to take just one more but she looked at me, made a sad face and beckoned me to her with her cute fingers opening and closing to come save her.

The fabric for the blouse was all found at Joann: white gauze here and sweater type fabric I couldn’t find online, the pattern download is HERE, leggings from Target, boots from Walmart, and headband tutorial can be found HERE.

*The pattern download is free.  The link is an affiliate link, meaning I get a small commission for new sign-ups for Craftsy. Which helps make this blog be possible.*

And thanks again to Adrianna of Crafterhours for digitizing the pattern for me!