It occurs to me I should have spelled skulls with a 'z' at the end instead.  Ah well.

First I'll explain my trials and tribulations for making this more awesome than awesome top, and then I shall post the pictures.  I am set for Halloween, any gothic-type concert, and the new Pirates of the Caribbean movie just with this one blouse!  And like a crazy woman I am going to wear it to work too.  :)

Anyhoo, this started (and actual came out like it's supposed to look) as New Look pattern 6647, view D.  I was planning on making view C first, but I bought this fabric on sale and I just couldn't wait.  Whee.  I must say that this pattern was a LOT easier to follow than the previous one I tried, maybe it's because this seemed more intuitive, but I did notice at one point that the pattern never told me to sew the sleeve seam together, so I had to ad-lib that part in when I got to it.  This blouse consists of seven pattern pieces and is relatively easy to put together.  The most difficult parts where the front inset piece and probably the sleeves, but even these weren't that bad.  I spent the better part of three afternoon and evenings to complete it.

And now on to the infamous "Lessons Learned" section, where I get to tell about all my modifications.  (This time around, there weren't very many!)

Lesson #1 - I was excited that this particular design had bias tape lining the neck edge and the front inset part.  I was not excited to learn that the bias tape I had was half the size that I needed.  So I ended up winging it, folding and pressing the tape down the middle and wrapping it around the neck edge.  Two rows of stitching and it looks pretty good.  It does the same thing, just not as prettified.  Wouldn't have mattered anyway as I still can't stitch very straight.

Lesson #2 - While attaching the front binding pieces, the pattern tells you to sew across the bottom and match the seam that's already there from the hem.  Problem is, you end up flipping the binding piece inside out to lay flat against the front of the blouse, and if you sew right at where the hem is, it ends up bunching up in the front.  I ended up cutting the ends of the hem free.  No one would know unless they are looking very closely.  I think this is another screw up in the pattern, either by hemming the blouse too soon or needing to sew the seam about a quarter inch lower than the hem seam.

Lesson #3 - You may notice the, uh - decorative stitching along where the buttons are.  Lotsa zig zags side by side.  Yes, it looks cute, but it's actually there because I ripped the holy hell out of the second buttonhole from the bottom - as in down through the facing all the way to the final buttonhole.   I was so excited that the damn buttonholes had actually sewn correctly this time that I got a little carried away opening them up.  Of course, I panicked.  I really wanted to finish this blouse tonight.  But it was a clean cut, so I ended up stitching rows of zig zags to give the facing extra stability and to stitch the sliced part in the bottom back together.  It worked like a charm! 

Lesson #4 - Okay, I really wanted to use those little hair barrette things I bought at Dollar Tree for buttons, but that was a serious pain in the ass to do.  I ended up going back and buying the hairband versions earlier this week since they already had a plastic piece on the back with two holes in it.  Easy right?  Wrong.  The elastic hairbands were knotted AND glued inside, and the holes were angled in such a way that it was impossible to simply thread a needle through them.  My solution?  I pulled the wire out of some wired ribbon I had, cut it in smaller pieces, made a hook at the end, and threaded it through the holes.  Then I took my pliers and twisted the wire together, but leaving enough gap between the wire and the plastic piece for my needle to slide through.  I wound the wire back into the holes somewhat, and then, THEN I could sew them on.  Also I ended up making the biggest buttonholes my buttonhole foot would allow, and it just barely fit these bad boys.  Now that I've worked the buttonholes open a little more, it'll be okay, but man, it was hell trying to get those buttons through the first time.  But it turned out great, I have unique buttons that no one else has and they totally match the top.

So, I'm sure you're anxious to see pictures!