Elizabeth Blouse Sewing Tutorial

The Elizabeth blouse is a quick and easy sew, perfect for adventurous beginners. You will learn how to line a yoke, sew a button placket, sew buttonholes, and set in sleeves. Follow along below for additional photos and tips to make your blouse a success.

The first thing you are going to want to do is interface your yoke and button placket following the instructions in the pattern booklet and manufacturer’s instructions on your interfacing. Here is a photo of my pieces laid out after I interfaced the necessary pieces:

Pattern pieces cut out and interfaced

Sew your yoke pieces together:

Once you have interfaced, sew your front and back yoke and yoke lining pieces together at the shoulders using a 5/8” seam allowance. At this point, it doesn’t matter which is the yoke and which is the lining (unless you decided to use a different fabric for your lining). Press open your seam allowance! You will end up with a yoke and a yoke lining that both look like this:

Front and back yoke pieces sewn together at shoulders

Sew yoke and yoke lining together:

Now lay your yoke and your yoke lining on top of each other, right sides together, matching seams. Starting at the front of one yoke front, sew around the neckline, rotating at the corners. Continue sewing all around the neckline until you finish at the other front end. Here is a video of me sewing this step:

Video of Sara sewing the yoke and yoke facing of the Elizabeth blouse together.

Clip your yoke:

Clip into the corners of the front yoke and around the back yoke curve, being careful not to cut through the stitches. Trim the corners of the front yoke as close to stitches as possible.

Clip into the seam allowance around the neck.

Turn right side out and carefully press, using a pointed tool to push out the corners of the front yoke if needed. 

After ironing, the finished yoke should look like this.

Gather back:

Sew two lines of gathering stitches at 1/4 inch and 3/8 inch using the longest stitch length on your machine and leaving the tails of the thread long. Pull the ends of the threads to gather the fabric until it is the same width as your back yoke piece. Adjust the gathers to be evenly distributed. 

Matching the center notches, pin the gathered back to the back yoke. Sew together, being careful to avoid the back yoke lining. Grade seams by trimming seam allowance of back piece to 1/4 inch. Press seam allowance toward back yoke.

Fold bottom edge of back yoke lining under 5/8 inch and press. Pin folded edge of back yoke lining to back, flip garment and edgestitch along back yoke bottom, stitching about 1/4 inch from seam, making sure that you are catching the back yoke lining as you sew. 

Sew front button plackets:

Press front center edges 1 inch to the wrong side of the fabric, then fold over again and edge stitch in place. Repeat for other front piece. 

Gather fronts:

Sew two lines of gathering stitches along the top edge of your front pieces at 1/4 inch and 3/8 inch using the longest stitch length on your machine and leaving the tails of the thread long. Pull the ends of the threads to gather the fabric until it is the same width as your front yoke pieces. Adjust the gathers to be evenly distributed. 

Matching the notches, pin the gathered fronts to the front yokes. Sew together, being careful to avoid the front yoke lining. Grade seams by trimming seam allowance of back piece to 1/4 inch. Press seam allowance toward yoke.

Fold bottom edge of front yoke lining under 5/8 inch and press. Pin folded edge to front, flip garment and edgestitch along front yoke bottom, stitching about 1/4 inch from seam, making sure that you are catching the back yoke lining as you sew. 

Attach the sleeves:

Sew two lines of gathering stitches along the cap of your sleeve at 1/4 inch and 3/8 inch. Loosely gather the sleeve cap to create a three dimensional shape. Matching notches to yoke joins (where yoke meets front and back), pin your sleeve to the bodice. Sew slowly, ensuring you do not create tucks in the fabric. Finish edges with a serger or a zig zag stitch. 

Sew sides:

Pin along sides and sleeves of blouse. Sew, then finish using a serger or a zig zag stitch. Repeat for other side. 

If you are sewing the long sleeve version, finish your wrist elastic:

While blouse is still inside out, fold and press edge of sleeve opening to the wrong side 3 /8 inch twice. Edgestitch around opening, leaving a 2 inch opening to insert elastic. Using a safety pin, insert 1 /4 inch elastic into the opening and pull through to the other side. Overlap the ends of your elastic by a half inch and use a zig zag stitch to sew together. Sew opening closed. 

If you are sewing the short-sleeve version, add elasticated ruffle:

Match up the short ends of the short sleeve ruffle, right sides together. Pin and sew and finish with a serger or zig zag stitch. Press seam towards either side. 

With blouse right side out, layer ruffle over the sleeve, unfinished edges together. The right side of the ruffle should face towards the right side of the sleeve. Sew all the way around the sleeve. Press seam allowance towards the inside of the sleeve, flipping the ruffle out and away from the sleeve in the process. 

Flip blouse inside out. Fold your seam allowance under by half and press in place. Edgestitch around sleeve, leaving a 2” opening to insert elastic. This step will create a casing for the elastic:

Using a safety pin, insert 1 /4 inch elastic into the opening and pull through to the other side. Overlap the ends of your elastic by a half inch and use a zig zag stitch to sew together. Sew opening closed. 

To hem sleeve, press unfinished edge of ruffle under 1/ 4” then press at 1/ 4” again to hide raw edge, Edgestitch all the way around. 

Hem blouse:

Hem blouse by pressing bottom edge toward the wrong side 1 inch twice. Edgestitch all the way around, backstitching at beginning and end. 

Sew button-holes and buttons:

Using button hole guide, mark buttonholes on the front right of your blouse. Switch to your buttonhole foot and sew seven buttonholes onto blouse following the instructions of your machine. 

Using a marking tool, mark through your buttonholes onto the opposite front piece. Sew your buttons on where you have marked.