The Made-to-Measure Blouse Plan

One set of measurements from the tape to the cut: the size chosen up when you sit between two, ease written as a number, the high bust checked, the finished blouse laid out on the washed width, every extra as its own line, and the length rounded once at the counter

FancyBlouse's free calculators each answer one question, and they never met. The size converter rounded a bust to the nearest even inch, so its own default handed out a size smaller than the bust; the fit calculator names ease in single words that the pattern companies' guide uses for different amounts; and the fabric calculator laid out the bare body on the width printed on the label, so neither the ease nor the washed width ever reached the yardage. The Made-to-Measure Blouse Plan carries one set of measurements through seven steps. In its worked example, a 96 cm bust with 8 cm of ease (measured from a blouse that fits) on a bolt labeled 44 in that washed to 108 cm needs two body rows, not one: 1.17 m of layout where the old answer was 0.69 m, and 1.75 m once the facings, a 16 cm repeat and 3% shrinkage are added as their own lines and the total is rounded once to a quarter-meter step. It quotes Simplicity's high bust method (a C cup or larger sizes a pattern by the high bust) and the published ease bands, and says plainly that a full bust adjustment is a pattern alteration, not extra cloth. Every figure is computed by the site's own calculator code and tagged as an example; the international sizes are general approximations, never a brand's chart, and the fabric layout is a rectangle model a skilled cutter may beat. Included: 24 printable pages with a measurement card for your tailor, a size and ease log, a layout and buy sheet, a counter card, reference tables and a quickstart, plus a personalised sheet worked from the numbers you enter in the calculators.

Look inside

Two full pages from the plan, exactly as printed. Click either to read it at full size before you decide.

What is in it

• Step 1: every measurement taken once, in one unit, with the other unit beside it
• Step 2: the ready-made size chosen up when you sit between two, with the international sizes labeled as general approximations
• Step 3: ease written as a number from a blouse that fits, placed in the pattern companies' published bands, and the finished bust and waist
• Step 4: the full bust checked against the high bust, and when a pattern is sized by the high bust and needs a full bust adjustment
• Step 5: the finished blouse laid out on the washed, usable width, one correction at a time
• Step 6: facings, the print's repeat, shaping and shrinkage as their own lines
• Step 7: the length rounded once to the counter's step, from one bolt, and the blouse priced
• Working pages: a measurement card for your tailor, a size and ease log, a layout and buy sheet and a counter card
• Reference tables: ready-made sizes with the busts each one is for, the ease guide in inches and centimeters, and the widest finished bust whose panels sit side by side
• A personalised sheet worked from the numbers you enter in the size, fit and fabric calculators

The plan picks up where the free Blouse Size Converter, Fit & Ease Calculator and Blouse Fabric Calculatorleave off. They each answer one question; the plan carries one set of measurements from the tape to the cut: the size chosen up when you sit between two, ease written as a number against the pattern companies' published bands, the high bust checked, the finished blouse laid out on the washed width, facings, repeat and shrinkage as their own lines, and the length rounded once at the counter from one bolt. Every figure in it is an example for you to replace.