1930s Blouse: Yay or Nay?

Some time ago, my compulsive pinning self came across this scan of a fascinating vintage sewing booklet with directions for drafting and making a 1930s blouse. I'm vaguely trying to sew through the decades (inspired by the oh-sew-accomplished Debi, of course!), and I don't have any patterns from this era, nor am I likely to come across any in thrift stores, so I thought I'd give it a go. I like the idea of a pullover blouse with no buttons or zippers, but was skeptical about its shape, or rather, lack thereof.

Directions for making a Size 16 blouse (in 1935 this was Bust 34, Hip 37).

I used a lovely soft rayon with a tiny floral print, it being the most vaguely 30s fabric that I had that would also be suitable for such a blouse. Oddly enough, the directions call for a "cotton material in some interesting rough weave," which makes me think of burlap sacks. Is that rough and interesting enough? Anyway, I figured that the drapiness of the rayon would be suited to this mostly-shapeless blouse.

Making up the pattern was fairly simple; I was fortunate that the blouse measurements fit me almost perfectly. I did accidentally make my holes too large, though. Instead of the little slits shown in the diagram, well, let's just say that when I showed the finished blouse to my husband, he said it looked like there was a face with a huge nose at the neckline. Humph. I didn't bother with the collar or belt described in the pattern, as I didn't have any contrasting fabric in a suitable material/weave, so I settled for a chiffon bow stolen from another top.

Despite the minimal waist shaping, it's essentially a large sack.

It looks pretty shapeless this way, though, so I decided to take a page from The Dreamstress' book and try a sash tied at the hip:

Better? I think?

Back view. Hmm.

I'm still not sure about it. In its defense, though, it is ridiculously comfortable to wear, thanks to the soft rayon. Which, incidentally, slipped all over the place during the cutting/sewing, and especially as I tried to make the bias binding for the neckline and sleeves! In order to ensure that the rayon didn't fray like crazy, I had to bind all the seams. I am so happy with how they look! And in the realm of being clever/efficient/a cheater (thanks for all of you who chimed in to reassure me that you, too, use the selvage as a shortcut!), I used the selvage for the hem of the blouse.

Pink seam binding and self-fabric bias facing at the sleeve.

Summary:
Fabric: 1 yard of 54" wide floral print slippery rayon
Notions: Just a tiny hook and eye for the top closure, and then lots of seam binding
Techniques used: Making self-fabric bias tape, top-stitched cut-outs
Hours: Three-ish? I was taking my time, though, since I wanted to make sure the fabric didn't get off-grain or otherwise misbehave. Also, binding everything just means sewing each seam multiple times, with trips back and forth to the ironing board every time.
Will you make this again? Probably not...I don't need more shapeless tops. Especially since there's one more coming up tomorrow...
Total cost: $3. Yay for nice rayon from the discount warehouse!
Final thoughts: Like everything else I've made from slippery fabric and shown this week, meh. Not bad, but not great either. Decent. Serviceable. I think I'm boring even myself. Is this what happens when one sews cake and not frosting?

Also, I think this is just what happens when you make patterns that only show illustrations, instead of actual clothes on a real person. I'm pretty sure the model on the pamphlet has 28" hips.

See, if I only approach people from the 3/4 view, I can appear to have no hips, too!