Even an ordinary daytime blouse of batiste might have several different techniques of decoration applied to it -- tiny pintucks or pleating, box pleats, narrow knife pleats, one or more types of applied insertion lace, hand-made joining stitches (fagotting), hand-embroidered motifs or appliquéd lace.  The variations seen in extant blouses of this era seem endless. ​

This blouse design (#1911-A-052) combines a number of these elements in the decorative yoke which forms the top edge of the blouse.   While this work is admittedly time-consuming and must be done with care, the end result is stunning, even in such a small piece! 

This decorative Yoke is of course entirely optional.  The Sewing Instructions included with pattern #1911-A-052 provide options for simpler finishing methods.  

As explained in the Sewing Instructions, you can start with a Yoke (Piece 2) cut from your blouse fabric, or from a lightweight but fairly crisp backing fabric, such as batiste, lining fabric, or silk taffeta.  Batiste will be easier to work with than slippery silk or lining fabric.  If you wish, although not historically accurate, fusing a featherweight synthetic, non-woven interfacing to the back of the Yoke piece can also be done to provide more stability. 

The finished decorative Yoke can also be lined (with a lightweight, semi-sheer lining such as China silk) if you like.   The lining should be cut from the Yoke pattern (Piece 2) and basted to the back of the Yoke before the Blouse and Yoke are joined. 

The photos and videos below show the process of constructing this decorative Yoke from start to finish.  Refer to the Sewing Instructions with this pattern for specifics on construction.  The sample blouse shown was made from a deep-ivory coloured silk shantung, with reproduction Valenciennes lace, and small-scale floral lace yardage.  

For the sample blouse made from pattern #1911-A-052, I decided to use a wide Valenciennes edging lace rather than cutting the top lace section from lace yardage.  In the end, this involved tucking and shaping the top of the Valenciennes lace edging to fit the neck curve of the Yoke, which wasn't ideal.  I tried to keep the tucks aligned with the top points of where the insertion lace would be (to hide the tucks), but I would not repeat this again.  It's best the use the flat lace yardage, cut according to Yoke pattern Piece 2, in order to get a smoother result. 

This explains why you may see a few untidy-looking little tucks in the lace along the top (neckline) edge of the Yoke in these photos!  See the captions at bottom of each photo for construction notes. 

The next parts of the design on the Yoke are the pretty little triangular sections along the bottom, cut from pre-pleated blouse fabric (prepared on Piece 3).  The two top edges of each of these little triangular pieces must fall inside the lower lines marked for the insertion lace (so that the insertion lace, when sewn on afterward, will overlap the top raw edges of the pleated sections). 

The pleats (horizontal tucks) on Piece 3 don't need to be absolutely perfect, just as even as possible to get an attractive final effect.  Still, it's best to keep the pleats/tucks narrow, no more than about 0.7cm (1/4") deep, to keep their size proportional to the small scale of the pleated sections themselves. 

The following three Videos demonstrate the steps in applying the insertion lace to the Yoke, and trimming away the fabric layer(s) underneath the insertion lace to create the "transparent" effect.  The Videos are set out here in order of construction of the Yoke. 

The final step in completing the decorative Yoke is to finish the top raw edge (this is the open neckline edge).  The usual way this was done in the 1910's was with a narrow bias band made of the same fabric as the blouse.  Follow the steps given in the Sewing Instructions under the section entitled "Finish Neckline Edge of Yoke". 

​Below is a photo of the finished decorative Yoke created for the sample blouse from pattern #1911-A-052, based exactly on the original 1911 decorative Yoke. 

As described in the Sewing Instructions, it's best to finish all ​desired embellishment on the surface of the body of the Blouse (Piece 1) before​ sewing the Blouse onto the Yoke, especially if you plan to do the full Blouse embroidery by hand or machine.  That way, you can work with Piece 1 "on the flat" so to speak, without having the Yoke in the way. 

Following are a few more photos showing the finished sample blouse made from this pattern.  In making the sample, I substituted appliquéd lace motifs (cut from lace yardage) for the hand embroidery, but if you love historical embroidery, you can re-create the included 1911 embroidery design for a perfect replica of the antique original.

Once the Initial Cutting Frame for backs and for the front of the blouse have been fully tucked and the laces sewn on, the actual pattern pieces for Front and Back are cut from these Initial Cutting Frames, taking into account Centre Back and Centre Front when laying out the Initial Cutting Frames.  

The Sleeve Cuffs are prepared in much the same way as the Front and Backs, with all the tucking and lace application done before sewing the Cuffs to the blouse, except in the case of the Cuffs, the necessary extra depth has already been included in the pattern (Piece #3A).  Cut this piece from blouse fabric, and complete the tucks in it so that its depth matches the Guide for Finished Cuff (Piece #3B).   The slideshow below shows how the prepared cuff is attached to the sleeve: 

The Collar is prepared in the same way as the Cuffs -- Cut the Collar from Piece #6A (Collar Tucked Section), do all the pre-tucking in that piece, then use Piece #6B as a guide for completing the Collar to the correct depth (including adding lace).  The photos below show the prepared Collar being attached to the body of the Blouse: 

Keep in mind that all of the fancy insertion and edging lace shown in the photos here are typical for this historical era, and were the most fashionable choice for a dressy blouse, but you can omit all or any of them if you wish, making this blouse as a plainer style with tucking only.  In fact, the entire blouse can be made completely plain if you wish -- with no tucking and no lace -- by skipping the Initial Cutting Frame instructions, and simply cutting out the blouse pieces themselves directly from your fashion fabric.  

The seam construction of this blouse, used in almost all dressy blouses of the 1910-13 era, was a unique and masterful achievement of French design, never seen before (or in fact since that era) in garment construction.  It created a shape that allowed each side of the blouse (or bodice), along with the sleeve, to be closed in one continuous seam.  Not only that, but the design of this seam improved greatly on the standard "kimono" bodice, by a technique that fit the body more closely, but still dispensing  with an armscye (armhole) seam.  

This design technique doesn't require any expert sewing skills, just a careful step-by-step method.  It does help if you're able to put out of your mind everything you know about fitting a standard sleeve into the usual armhole type of construction, or sewing a "kimono" style blouse. 

This design is entirely different!  But it's not rocket science, and I guarantee that once you've completed one of these blouses, you'll realize how straightforward yet ingenious it is.  I call it the "magic blouse", because it does create an almost magical result.  The seam goes up the side back, closes the underarm area, then closes the sleeve seam, all in one operation.  

Since this procedure is exactly the same for all these blouses, rather than repeating all the annotated photos here, just click on the link below, which will take you to the construction help photos that I've already prepared for blouse pattern #1911-A-052 (as a matter of fact, these photos were taken from the sample blouse I made from this blouse pattern #1911-A-017).  Scroll down to Section 2 on the linked page.  There are a lot of pictures and a lot of notations, but it's worth studying these and following the steps carefully if this is the first time you're making one of these blouses. 

The most important key to success (and I can't stress this enough!) is to be sure you carefully match up the Seam Indicators provided on the printed pattern.  Remember, don't expect the two sides of the sleeves or bodice to look identical or symmetrical -- they're not.  Follow the steps exactly as described in the Sewing Instructions, in the exact order given, and you'll discover how clever this technique is! 

Section 3:  This Section shows the steps in constructing and applying the decorative lace shoulder insets and contrasting satin bands on this gown. 

​Click on "Play" (top left of 1st photo) to run slideshow; pause at any time.  Click on a thumbnail to view an individual photo.  Hover right or left on the slideshow string to fast forward or reverse.