Retro collar love - the Tilda Blouse by Fibre Mood

I’m a big fan of the Tilda blouse/dress by Fibre Mood. The collar is by far the best thing about this blouse – it’s right on trend in the big collar camp but without feeling too over the top. I made a straight size 40 (UK 12) and made no alterations – I’ve generally found Fibre Mood patterns to be true to size and this was no exception. The pattern is technically a dress but I just shortened the front and back bodice pieces where it reached the hip and then re-added the seam allowance to make it blouse length.  I’m wearing Tilda with the Fibre Mood Betty high-waisted jeans (made from the Oakham denim, still available in the shop). 

I made my version out of a retro print ecovero and then decided to have a white tencel contrast collar to make it feel more vintage (both fabrics are currently available in the shop). This pattern works nicely in drapey fabrics like viscose or tencel but I think you could easily use cotton or linen or another lightweight woven as well.

In general it was a fairly straightforward make – there are no bust darts so the trickiest part is adding the bias strip around the neckline to neaten the collar/neckline seam (but the nice thing is that any untidyness in sewing the bias is hidden under the large collar). The front placket is formed by folding the pattern piece back on itself rather than using a facing / separate placket piece, which made cutting out a lot quicker as there were only 5 pattern pieces.

In general I’d really recommend this pattern – made out of different fabrics you could easily make something more formal for work, or if you used one fabric all over then it would look more modern. Plus that collar is calling out to be hacked with a frill or some kind of decoration so I think it’s a really versatile pattern. I can see me getting a lot of wear out of this top .

Happy sewing

Tanya xx