Mrs. Pettigrew Blouse

I mentioned in a post a while back that I was planning on copying Amy Adam's Blouse from "Mrs. Pettigrew Lives For A Day". First, it's an excellent movie, it's incredibly lighthearted yet touches your heart at the same time. It's staged right before World War II, the stars of the movie being Amy Adams as a frivolous actress who is trying to forge herself a career by sleeping with the right men and at the same time trying to find love, and Frances McDormand who ends up being her house keeper by trickery who is just trying to earn a living but gets so much more! The movie is silly but touches very serious subjects at the surface. 

 The clothing is absolutely inspiring! It's incredibly glamorous yet I do feel that it has a little bit of a modern touch to it.. It's difficult to explain, but even the older ladies in this movie are dressed beautifully!

 The blouse that inspired me the most is part of this ensemble that Amy Adams wears in her final scene:

 I just love the neckline! I've never seen this detail on a modern button up shirt and I think it's such a feminine and unique touch. The minute I saw it I knew I had to make it for myself, (evidence to this is this pin in which I promised to make it the next day). I really did! I just didn't photograph it until a few days ago. 
Well, here is the big reveal:
TADAAAAAAAA

  
I decided to make it into a normal button up shirt, as I didn't feel that I'd wear is as much as a dress (and I proved this theory right by wearing this shirt like 5 times since I made it). I used this plaid fabric that I got for 2.5$ a meter in a bazaar in Israel, I had a lot of trouble matching the plaid as we know, but I think it came out pretty well! I matched them only width wise, so they don't match at the shoulder seams and for some reason I didn't think to match them in the sleeves either. You think I'd have thought of that after spend so much time matching the rest of the stupid shirt!

 I kind of feel like a librarian in this blouse, so I thought I'd act it out for you guys and wear my glasses (that I never actually wear). What do you think? Do you feel like rushing to do your homework? 

The collar didn't come out as great as I planned. I couldn't figure out how to make it lie completely flat in the part where it overlaps as it did in the original shirt. I ended up making a long strip on the bias to create the collar, I only stitched the front parts closed and then I sandwiched the neckline in the rest of it. I thought it was enough to do that and have the overlap lie flat, BUT NO. Anyway, it's not bad, but I kind of get self conscious about it.

 I opted for princess seams and I'm happy I did, I thought they would be easier to match than dior seams and I wasn't sure that just sewing darts with the plaid would look good. Also, I think I like style-lines better than darts, they kind of shape the whole garment rather than only the place where the dart is.. do you feel this too? 

I decided to forgo the button clusters out of sheer laziness, I don't know why but it felt like more work than just spacing out the buttons equally. I think I will try this on a shirt soon because I like this look, I was just so frustrated with matching the fabric I wanted the rest of the construction to go faster. I know it's silly BUT I ALSO KNOW YOU DO THIS TOO, SO STOP JUDGING.

 
 This is what the collar looks like open, I hand sewed snaps to the overlapping collar. 
This is was also my first time shaping a piece of fabric with an iron. I cut the collar on the bias and I stretched the part that would be sewn to the shirt neckline with LOTS of steam so that it'll lay flat rather than stick out like a mandarin collar. It really works! can you tell it's a little tighter at the top of the collar? don't tell me if it doesn't.

I look like a midget in this picture, my dad is so tall it's like he's taking a picture of me from a top of a building! We later figure out how to avoid this issue but you'll only see an improvement in the next few garments.

I had the silly thought of making a matching jacket like in Amy Adam's ensemble. I still can't decide if I want to do this or not! I've made my first successful jacket a few weeks ago so I feel that my motivation is greater.. but will I wear it as an ensemble?? I can't decide!

For the sake of being honest, I've never worn this shirt with this outfit, I always wore it with jeans, but I thought I'd glamour off for you guys!

What do you think? Is it as similar as I think it is? Have you ever tried to copy a garment from a movie? Also, I don't know if you caught the subtle clue, but I have a pinterest accound AND YOU SHOULD FOLLOW IT.