Sewing pattern review - McCall 6035

I saw the Selfish Seamstress' post on her McCall blouse yesterday, and that reminded me that I'd never shown (or reviewed) my version of this blouse. So, at lunch today, I pulled out the iron, ironed the crap out of this blouse, and took some afternoon balcony shots (thereby undoubtedly providing much entertainment to the office building directly opposite.)

Here goes!

Fabric: Silk cotton from India. I had 1.25 meters of this - aargh. I had to skip the collar, since I didn't have enough fabric. I paid $2 a meter for this. On the bolt, this fabric is stiff-ish, with a bit of sheen on it. However, water stains this sheen, and I had to soak the entire thing in water to remove the effects of a couple of water drops. Ah well. Shirts do need to be washed.

Pattern: McCall 6035, with the sleeves from View C and no collar.

Pattern adjustments: I cut a size 10, graduating to a 12 at the waist and hip. I sewed the A/B cup bodice, and had no issues with the princess seams. (Using a tip by Tany, I stay-stitched the princess seams, and then clipped them after sewing to get them to lie flat.)

Two issues I did have - first, a bit of gaping at the bodice. I need to learn how to position my buttons to avoid that.
Second - as you can tell from this photo of my back, I need to learn how to do a swayback. Aargh. I was hoping to avoid learning stuff like that.



Time taken: I think I sewed this over 3-4 evenings.

In conclusion: I'm a little torn on this shirt. I've only worn it once, and I'm not sure why. (Gaping at the bodice is one reason, of course. Also, I don't actually tend to wear shirts very often, I reach for t-shirts and blouses much more often.) I do however like this pattern, and want to try some of the other sleeve variations, and of course, I'd like to sew the collar next time (I hate not having enough fabric, so annoying!!!!)