Grey and pink - part 1

Okay - not the most inventive of titles.  Bear with me.  I ran out of "edible" colour names for grey way back when.  And the pink part - well that's not on the agenda for to-day, so we'll see what happens.
I started this whole outfit way back in the winter.  Summer outfit in winter?  Well, the brilliant idea at the time was to sew it to hang at the store as a class sample, so that I could retrieve the wintery outfit that was hanging there already, so's I could get some wear out of it this year.  Obviously that didn't happen.  Life and stuff got in the way.  Somehow I did manage to get the blouse and pants done some time before Easter, I think, but the jacket was just not happening.  Probably too much thinking going on, which lead to procrastination, because I kept thinking of all that could go wrong.  So now I'm forcing myself to get this jacket done.  How? you may ask.  Well, by posting the other two pieces here, which should get the ball rolling, and then I'll feel like I'm letting the whole world down (I know - the world really couldn't give a hoot) if I don't hurry up and get the jacket done and posted.  (I'm a master at feeling guilty.)  Actually, since I've been dragging this whole thing out for so long, it would really be nice to just GET IT DONE and hang it in the closet.  Without further ado - the blouse.

It's Kwik Sew 2976, which is OOP, but it's such a timeless style, that I'm not too worried about it looking dated.  In pale grey voile, it could be rather boring, so I decided to "kick it up a notch" and use those fancy stitches on my machine.  Rows of stitching with a wing needle and rows of just fancy stitch.  I did use rayon embroidery thread for this.  Lots of starch to stiffen the fabric and two layers of water soluble stabilizer.  (Quite the mess to wash out later!) 

This is not something you do in a rush - lots of slow breathing exercises, taking your time and praying like mad that the machine isn't going to decide to hiccup somewhere smack in the middle of a row.  Every so often I rather like this mindless exercise.  And to finish - vintage mother of pearl buttons that just "happened to be sitting around" waiting for somewhere to go.

After all was said and done, this blouse did have to go through the wash to remove all that starch, and it's still a bit stiff, but that will surely wash out the next time around.  Of course, I have to finish the outfit, so that I can wear it to justify washing the blouse again.
I'll show you part 2 later.