Making a Blouse Bigger?

redhatterb

March 11, 20140 found this helpful

It would depend on the style of the blouse and how much bigger you need it. Without that information it will be hard for anybody to give you advice. That being said, are you a competent seamstress or know how to sew?

Frugal Sunnie
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March 17, 20140 found this helpful

You sound as though you have more than a little understanding of sewing (you mention the fabric content), so as a sewing teacher, I'm going to suggest the following:

Put on the foundation garments you will wear with this blouse (bra, cami, both).
Put the blouse on inside out - unbuttoned or fastened.

With a flexible tape measure, measure and write down how many inches you need and where to make the blouse close properly, and so that the sleeves aren't too tight.

Then take the blouse off, lay it out on the table or bed, and look at it from several angles - walk around it looking at it thinking "If I open the shoulder seams on both sides then cut from front to back hem, and then insert a fabric panel (matching or contrasting) with a 1/4" seam allowance on each side of each panel where I sew it into the blouse, how many inches of fabric panel would I need, and how would it look when I was finished?"

You can do the same with the sleeve - open the shoulder seam where it meets the sleeve, cut straight up the middle of the sleeve, insert a fabric panel, and then stitch it with a 1/4" seam allowance at each side of the panel to the cut you made in the sleeve.

You can really change the look of the blouse if you use a contrasting set of panels, or you can simply enlarge the blouse maintaining the essential look by inserting matching panels - be sure to choose a match in both colour and fabric content to maintain the style.

Good luck! This will work (I know because I've done it) and if you are very careful, you will be able to have the look of that blouse on you, in your size:)