Remake: Halterneck Blouse in nani IRO Fuccra : rakuen カウアイ (nani IRO 2013)

It had been a while since I sewed something and in the end, the first sewing project of 2023 was a remake of an old make. With a measuring tape, a French curve scale, some guesswork, trial-and-error and a lot of dumb luck, I managed to turned the gathered pullover made in 2017 into a halterneck blouse. Perfectly light and breezy for our tropical weather. Just in time to wear to Chinese New Year reunion dinner too.

I rarely wore the original pullover but didn't want to give or throw it away because the fabric (the nani IRO "Fuccra : rakuen カウアイ" from the 2013 season) is one of my all-time favourites in my fabric stash. Unfortunately, this colourway isn't printed anymore. The halterneck remake was inspired by this halterneck sewing tutorial in which the author turned a raglan sleeve tunic into a halterneck dress.

The old (IG) vs. the new: same fabric, new look!

Although most of the fabric had been used up to make an A-line dress in 2018, fortunately I had enough leftover scraps for bias tapes to bind the armholes and neckline. I still regret not getting more in 2015, and think it'd be wonderful if the textile producer (Kokka, I think) would produce this colourway in another substrate, like maybe linen, cotton silk or rexcell/lexcel....

Whatever it is, am loving the new look so much more, and certainly feel less frumpy wearing it.