I like to make a new themed garment to wear over the Christmas season. In the past this has taken the form of various dresses, blouses, appliqued tee shirts and aprons. This year I browsed through my stash of Christmas fabrics for inspiration and came across a 2.25 metre length of cotton with a charming print of Cherubs on a Navy background. Just enough for a ¾ sleeve blouse.

As I had very little time to make the blouse – I needed it ready to wear in two days time, I hooked out my TNT blouse pattern “Loralie” and quickly cut out the fabric.

This design is a “hack” from a couple of patterns as described many times before. To make a feature of the shawl neckline and highlight the shaping against the busy print I used some ready-made Dark Red satin piping. I made the sleeves ¾ length, added a continuous strip placket and a 2inch wide cuff. I even made a couple of patch pockets but sadly ran out of time to apply them. Maybe later!

There are five Red buttons down the front of the blouse which came from my button box. Unfortunately, there were no more of the same buttons for the cuffs, for them I used a couple of Santa Claus buttons which came from a bargain bag of mixed Christmas buttons.

I have worn the blouse just once so far, but it will get a couple more airings this year before it is put away until November 2016.