I think I'm supposed to grow up now.

fabric.com animal print haul*

So I feel like I'm supposed to wear "blouses" now, as an adult woman and all that. As opposed to wearing tees (guys, do you remember the "baby tee" of the nineties? Oh boy) and tank tops. And not just dresses, mostly because I own 3 black skirts and several more printed skirts and about two tops that can pass as "blouses".

I keep putting it in quotation marks because I find myself clueless to what a blouse really even IS, and what kind of blouse I want to wear. Does it have to button? Is it ok if it's made of a knit fabric? Can we avoid that because I'm still uncomfortable sewing with knits?
Generally I would go into the "vintage" idea around the forties and fifties but that tends to land me in the area of puff sleeves and peplums and pussy bows. I can probably rock a pussy bow blouse (though I wish we could think of a better name than "pussy bow") but the rest- and the forties/fifties-look dresses I usually choose when I want to be "dressed up" are often too close to "cute" and far from the grown up idea I'm trying to put forward.

Why am I even trying so hard? My workplace is very lenient, and my boss generally wears jeans and a t-shirt (the other day, a Patron tequila branded shirt. He used to be a bartender.. and he also just likes tequila).  I'm probably the most dressed person there. I've realized this might also be because I'm the lowest ranking, so I want to be taken a little seriously, and the fact that I sit at the front desk. Also, when I wake up and drag myself out of bed I want to feel like I actually woke up, and not like I'm still in my pajamas.

Said pajamas tend to be the shirt I wore the day before.

So, I am on a blouse quest. I've found a few contenders shopping, but there's always a problem- fit, pattern, material, color, cut, or most of all- price.
 And I'm going to sew one. Lucky me, I have the aforementioned lenient workplace. And while I will probably have even greater problems with fit, I can at least control that somewhat- although to argue that I'm choosing great material isn't valid here, since I'm working with the cheapest polyester that I probably shouldn't have bought anyways, and mystery remnants.
I started on Burda, which even did a newsletter of blouses:
http://www.burdastyle.com/blog/project-the-perfect-blouse

And my favorite blouse on that page is probably in the third block of pictures (not including the intro picture): only titled "The Sleeveless Blouse", the pattern is for a button down top with gathers at the neck for fullness.
Simple! Classic! You can tuck it in, but you won't look gross if you don't!
I have already run into problems.

from Burdastyle.com

one, it has buttons. I am willing to do buttons. I own buttons. I own a buttonhole foot. But I'm a little nervous.
Two, it's got those well placed front gathers. Here I run into a big part of my "blouse" confusion: I don't tend to like full tops. I like slim things up top, that hug the waist, and flow at the hips.
But I feel like that seems to be in the definition of "blouse" with a few exceptions. Nipping in at the waist tends to be done with many buttons and often with a puff sleeve or peplum. Is there something more mature about a full, loose top?

..I'll think about it.

Diving into my own patterns, I have a dress I could possibly hack into a blouse but might not be worth the effort, and if I have anything else that matches it's been lost to the moving-box-pile (I hate this pile in my life).

Do I go forth without a pattern? Am I ready for that much adventure, that much heartache, especially for a piece of clothing I'm already confused about and am doomed not to like?
Wish me luck, blog.




*Those poly charmeuse animal prints were part of a sale I had trouble resisting. The zebra is- horrors!- slightly sheer. My mother loves animal prints, and because my dad doesn't like them I'm resolving to fill her world with them. However, we are two different sizes.