Embellish a plain blouse

Does your wardrobe need an update? Take a plain blouse from drab to fab in minutes!

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Don’t turf out those tired looking tops. Add a bit of lace to the front and you’ll see an instant transformation.

Use up scraps of lace, or buy some from a craft store or emporium. You don’t need much – just enough to go from the top of the blouse (neck) to the bottom, and another couple of pieces to wrap around the cuffs.

For a blouse with no buttons at the front, use a wide piece of lace, like the two blouses shown here with black and electric blue lace.

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Trim a slight curve at one end to fit neatly around the neck, then pin in place. Trim the bottom end to fit along the bottom edge of the blouse. Either machine (preferably) or hand stitch the lace to the blouse using straight stitch.

Trim smaller pieces of the same lace to fit around the cuffs. Cut one edge straight, leaving the other edge with a scalloped edge. Stitch to cuffs, with the scallop at the bottom.

Where your blouse has buttons and even pleats down the front (like our pale blue blouse), use narrow widths of lace that have one straight edge and one scalloped edge.

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Place the straight edge of the lace against the centre of the blouse where the bottoms are, and beneath the pleats, as shown on the pale blue blouse. Machine or hand stitch the lace to the blouse.

Trim smaller pieces of lace to fit around the cuffs, then stitch to the cuffs.

Your dazzling new blouse is now complete!