How to Make a Greenbrier Blouse

Hacking the Greenbrier top to be blouse length is about as easy as you’d think! I’ve already done in it twice, once in rayon challis, and once in light linen.

The big change, really, is not using the pockets! They’ll be too long to use for any skirt length shorter than a mini skirt. Top length really is personal preference. I decided to make the skirt length 10.5″ (26.7 cm) from waist seam (which is higher than the body waist!) to hem. With 3/8″ (1 cm) double-turn hems and a 5/8″ (1.6 cm) waist seam, that’s 1.5″ (3.81 cm) that need to be added to the skirt length to calculate the pattern piece length. (This is measured from the waist seam at the centre front, not the side seam.) And the notch change is hardly a change at all. Keep the notch on the waist seam to help distribute the gathers evenly. Skip the notches on the side seams.

It’s so fun! I really love how changing the skirt length adds such a new dimension to this pattern.

Here are the steps

1) Decide on the skirt length

2) Add 1.5″ (3.81 cm) to that length.

3) On the Skirt Front and Back, mark your length from step 2 down from the top cut edge at the CF. Square across the pattern piece. (If, instead of squaring across, you measure down from the cut edge all the way across, you’ll end up with a skirt that dips down a the side seams, so if that’s what you want, now you know what to do!)

4) Either trace off your new pattern piece, including the notch on the waist seam but NOT the side seam notches, or fold up the bottom of the pattern piece and tape it out of the way.