Things I've Sewn Lately: A Betsey Johnson Floral Pendrell Blouse

I love my first Sewaholic Pendrell blouse so much that I immediately made a second one. 

This fabric is a fantastic Betsey Johnson cotton print I picked up from Mood when I was ordering my beloved Oscar de la Renta bow-print twill. And, of course, when I got the Pendrell pattern from Jennifer, I saw this fabric hanging in my closet and with the slightly '80s look to the pattern (is that just me?) I decided it had to be made.

Unfortunately, I'd only bought a single yard of the Betsey Johnson fabric. Luckily, Mood must have been generous with its cutting, because I had just over a yard. And with some creative cutting (the bias facings were done with quilting cotton and one of the sleeve ruffles is pieced) I made it work. But I definitely had to lay out the pattern pieces multiple times. 

Luckily, with all my '80s inspiration, I was watching "Pretty in Pink" and it didn't seem so bad. 

Since the fit on the first blouse was so good, this one sewed up in a flash. I had a bit of a problem making the ruffles match, but, if I'm being honest, that's no fault of the pattern. I rarely cut notches into my patterns, so I went to eyeball this one and got it wrong TWICE before I finally measured it out and got it right.

Hey, I'm nothing if not stubborn!

I'm not convinced that I love the styling here -- I wore this blouse to work today tucked into jeans with little black flats, and I liked it much better. I think such a statement at the shoulders must necessitate a closer-fitting bottom, maybe? 

Either way, I really like this blouse. To me, it feels like wearing a birthday party -- which is a strange thing to say, I suppose, but it really does! It feels festive. 

Last week, I discovered, too, that my awesome sewing pal Juli, who I met at the last NYC meetup, made the exact same view of this pattern in the exact same fabric! I think it must be that this fabric just exists to be made into Pendrells, yes?

What do you say? Molly Ringwald marathon, anyone? Mood still has the fabric if you want to get in on this. ;)