205 Gibson Girl Blouse

Misses Small to 3XL.

The Gibson Girl was the ideal of feminine beauty at the turn of the 20th century. She often wore a soft, loosely fitted blouse of light cotton or silk with a high collar to accentuate her slender neck. A blouse worn with a skirt became the American woman's favorite fashion. By 1905, the Sears Roebuck catalogue offered 150 versions of this blouse, from cotton to lace and taffeta.

The high-collar, back-buttoning yoke style is still just as flattering today. This blouse is lovely over a skirt or it can be cut longer to tuck in. Instructions for optional tucks and lace insertion included.

Our sewing pattern features the full-shaped front gathered into a rounded yokes, embellished in View B with clusters of tucks and lace insertion. Three-quarter length sleeves are gathered at the shoulders and into narrow cuffs.

In View A, the high collar and yoke are finished with lace; in View B, rows of stitched lace replace the collar, as was the fashion. Tucks and lace insertion on the body of the blouse are optional. Instructions are given in View B for a traditional bias bound cuff. The back opening and cuffs fasten with tiny buttons or hooks and eyes; clusters of gathers at center back are held in place by narrow ties, which encircle the waist and tie in front.

Suggested fabrics: Soft lightweight fabrics such as batiste, lawn, muslin, silk, gingham, or calico.

Era: Edwardian, late 1800s to early 1900s

Yardage chart (.pdf)

This pattern is also available as a PDF (digital) pattern.  Go here for the PDF version.