Sewing Challenge Update & Next

Hi Creative People,

I am pleased to announce, I have completed the fifth and final project of my first sewing challenge! Of course, life and other 'attention diversion' projects got in the way of me completing this sooner...but, the point is...I FINALLY COMPLETED IT! :)

The 5th project was my burgundy blouse that I choose from this Butterick 5678 pattern that I mentioned in this post https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=6802372659299864887#editor/target=post;postID=2628336869578469975;onPublishedMenu=posts;onClosedMenu=posts;postNum=2;src=postname. I used polished cotton material that I received years ago in a bundle of remnant fabrics that I purchased online (I can't remember where.)

This project did not come without it's issues
...I will not blame anything or anybody for the issues of this pattern other than myself! I honestly don't know what I was thinking when I cut this pattern out, but my goodness! I obviously thought I could just cut this pattern 'as-is'. I am a plus size beautiful short woman and I can't believe for the life of me why I did not take that into consideration when I cut this out...with all that being said, let me just sum it up as "I did NOT alter the pattern before I cut this out!" Now...all my experienced and my newbie sewers know that is a complete NO! NO! Everyone is advised to check the fitting of a pattern BEFORE you cut it out on your expensive material!! WHAT WAS I THINKING??

Now that I have beat myself over the head a couple of times...I did the best I could do with what I had to work with. So, instead of a blouse with long sleeves and buttons down the front...this blouse is now a vest! I omitted the sleeves considering the sleeves would have been too tight around the arm girth and I omitted the buttons considering I could not button up the blouse over my beautiful belly :)
I sketched out (I am not an artist) a mock up of the blouse to add a few designs to change it up a bit.

I started putting the blouse together using the instructions...I forgot to mention, I am going to use the sleeve material (I already cut) for something else.
Then, I attached the collar...

After, I attached the collar, I top stitched around the edge of the collar, then I added the epaulets to the shoulder seam from my leftover sleeve fabric. I also added a gold buttons to the epaulets to break up the monotone of the burgundy. I also top stitched the armhole opening with a 1/4 inch seam.

How do you like the finished product? Did I redeem myself with this project? I really like it.
Of course, I completed this with no buttons...but it's still cute!

I really hope you like my post...please learn from my mistakes!! DO NOT cut your patterns out until you are sure that the project will fit you properly!! Trust me...you will save yourself a lot of headache!! I intend on making this pattern again...but, I will adjust the pattern before I do! :)

Until Next time! HAPPY SEWING!!