I sometimes feel like I’m Fibre Mood‘s biggest fan – I keep going back to their patterns over and over and I’m always finding new ones to fall in love with!

If you don’t know who they are yet, they’re a Belgian sewing magazine that comes out quarterly. They’ve got impeccable style and are always right on the money with their seasonal patterns! You can order from their site here, or from The Fold Line here or if you’re really lucky (and depending on where in the world you are), you might be able to find it in a newsagents close to you! FYI, not an ad – I just really really like them!

In their latest issue, I fell in love with the Holly pattern – it’s a dress with a stand collar, a gathered neckline and bishop sleeve. It’s a perfect winter dress look!

I really wanted to make it with a black spot mesh I had in my stash – I knew it would give a great Victorian-esque/ Villanelle off Killing Eve vibe!

As much as I would’ve loved a full length overly ruffled dress I had some reservations. Firstly I only had 2 metres of the fabric! And secondly I wanted to make something wearable and not too gimmicky.

So instead of a dress I decided to make a blouse! I figured I could then dress it up or down and it would be a much more versatile piece in my wardrobe.

I shorted the front and back bodices to hip length. (I compared it to one of my favourite tees and chopped it off st the same length!)

For the collar, I shortened it by 2cm so it didn’t stand quite so tall. I used a black satin fabric instead of the mesh for this part. I figured it would help hide all those pesky edges at the neck and would also be more comfortable.

I left out the zip at the centre back and instead stitched up to 20cm shy of the neckline and left it as a keyhole opening. I added hook and eye clasps to the collar stand to close.

I also opted to shorten the sleeves too and omit the cuffs as I worried about how heavy they would be compared to the floaty sleeve. Instead I added a line of shirring elastic to create a gather. (OK, so mostly I was feeling a bit lazy and this was a much quicker alternative!).

I overlocked all the internal seams although at the end I realised I didn’t need to! Mesh like this doesn’t fray so I could have gotten away without it. I’ve left the sleeve and bodice hems raw for now because of this.

Kind of hard to see the keyhole back with the vest I’ve got on underneath but it’s there!