Wenlan Blouse

My little sis's birthday is coming up...

and I'm thinking it's about time I made her something. This photo of her is five years old, and these days she's turning 23... 23! Geez. She is a far more artistic sort than I - a photographer, knitter, baker, all-around accomplished person. She even has her own blog that shows off her photography. I'm continually impressed by the things she makes. Even the little stuff. For example, this Christmas she made bacon for the thirteen people staying at our parents' house by cooking it in the oven on a cookie sheet covered with wax paper. Genius! And even though we did secret Santa this year, she had homemade gifts for almost everyone in the family. She knit me a beautiful hat in deep purple, which I have already lost and am very mad about.

So anyway, I want to make her something nice. She doesn't sew (yet), so this is my opportunity to use one of my skills for her. The fabric she sent me is a sort of slippery synthetic with red polka dots:

It's very much her style. I was thinking about this blouse from BurdaStyle:

Wenlan Blouse

I reallly love the version that Cupcake Goddess made of it, here. But I'm thinking I will eliminate the turtle-neck bit, since Katie wasn't into that. The other issue is, I don't want to use allll polka dot for this. I'd much rather do something sheer for the bib part like in the photo above. But of course, the local Joann's has nothing to offer. Will this be my first foray into internet fabric shopping? To be continued...