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.