147 Norwegian Bunad Blouse Sew along

April 10, 2025 4 Comments on 147 Norwegian Bunad Blouse Sew along

by Esi Hutchinson

Welcome to our first sew-along for the 147 Norwegian Bunad, our newest Folkwear pattern!  This series of sew-alongs for the Bunad will be published throughout the month, and today we start with the Blouse.

Whether you’re a seasoned sewist or a beginner looking to try something new, this guide will walk you through the steps of creating a beautiful piece of a traditional Norwegian festdrakt.

The Bunad is a symbol of cultural heritage and a celebration of local traditions. Worn on special occasions such as weddings, national holidays, and family celebrations, the Bunad is linked to particular regions by its cut and details such as embroidery, colors, and trim.  

What I love about this pattern is that it's easy to sew and it gives you a great base for customization with embroidery and other embellishments to make a bunad you want to make.  Throughout our sew-alongs, we are going to keep our embellishments pretty simple, but if you are making a particular bunad, you will want to embellish and modify the pattern to suit the bunad style you are making.  Or you can make a festdrakt (or festival dress) and make this pattern however you want to finish it.

For the blouse, you can add embellishments on the cuffs, collar, optional decorative placket, the center front, or the hem. This Blouse is roomy and comfortable with underarm gussets. I love the gussets; they are a great invention in historical garment sewing, giving you space and flexibility. This blouse is also quite flattering.  

Let's get started!

Fabric

The fabric you choose for your Bunad blouse plays a significant role in both the look and feel of the garment.  The classic Bunad blouse is almost always white and therefore shows off contrasting embroidery well.  Some bunader include whitework on the blouse.  But there are also Bunad blouses that are dark or very pale colors.  We suggest using light to medium-weight fabrics such as linen, cotton (poplin, lawn, indian cotton), cotton/linen blend, or silk.  Cotton and linen are the most common fabrics, but silk can give a more formal feel to the blouse.  For this post I used a white cotton muslin.  Be sure to wash and press your fabric before cutting out the pattern.  Linen and cotton can both shrink after washing and you don't want your blouse to come out smaller than you wanted.  Plus if you add embroidery or other trim, you can end up with distortions if the fabric shrinks.

Sizing

Choose the size that best fits you from the sizing and yardage charts (as well as the "finished measurements").  The blouse is meant to be "blousy", or slightly oversized, and not fitted.  I am between a Small and Medium in Folkwear's grade rule, but I made a size Small for this blouse.  

Seam Finishes

To finish your seams while you're sewing, you can overcast, zig-zag or use pinking shears to finish the raw edges. French seams or turning the raw edges under and stitching work for this pattern also.  I serged all the seams on this blouse as my finishing technique.

Cutting Out Your Pattern

There are seven pattern pieces for the blouse (A-G).  The Decorative Panel E is optional, and it can be used to add embroidery or white work to the front of the blouse.  The Back B and Collar C are cut on the fold.  Look at the cutting layouts in the pattern to find the one that is best for your size and fabric width.  Note that in the paper pattern, Collar C should be cut twice (and is only shown once).  The layouts are for fabric without nap, pile, or one-way designs, so if you have napped or directional fabric, you may need more yardage. 

If you want to lengthen or shorten your blouse, add to or subtract from the bottom hem of the pattern pieces A and B before cutting out your fabric.  Again, check the finished measurements to see if you want to make lengthening/shortening changes.  The sleeve is gathered at the shoulder and at the cuff, and the shoulder is a bit dropped.  If you want to lengthen or shorten the sleeve, do so in the middle of the sleeve, and make changes to the pattern piece before cutting out the fabric.  

If the pattern piece in the cutting layouts in our pattern is shaded, it needs to be placed with the printed side down.  All pattern pieces should be placed on the right side of your fabric.  Cut out the pattern carefully according to the instructions.  Be sure you transfer all the markings, including dots, circles, stars, and squares, to the fabric after cutting. 

With right sides together and matching shoulder notches, stitch blouse Front A to blouse Back B at shoulders. Press the seam open and finish. 

COLLAR:  Interface one Collar piece C; this interfaced collar will be called the Collar Facing. Interfacing helps the collar hold its shape, especially if the collar is made with a lightweight material.  Trim the interfacing from the seam allowance to reduce the bulk.  

Make a basting stitch line along the bottom (notched edge) seamline of the Collar Facing to use as a guide for turning the edge. Now turn ½” (13mm) seam allowance on Collar Facing at the basting line to the wrong side and press.

With the right sides of Collar and Collar Facing together, stitch the unnotched edges, leaving the bottom notched edges open. Make sure to catch the ½” (13mm) turned-up edge in the stitching.

Clip and trim the seam allowances and corners, and turn the collar right side out and press.  

With the right sides of the Collar and blouse together, stitch the unfolded edge (only) of the uninterfaced collar to the neck edge. Match the center back notch of the collar to the center back notch on the blouse and match shoulder notches on the collar to shoulder seams of the blouse.  Leave the interfaced collar free from the stitching.  Trim the seams to reduce bulk.

Make a few clips in the curves of the seam allowance and trim.  This will reduce bulk in the collar and allow the seam to curve more smoothly.

Press the seam towards the collar and whipstitch the turned-under edge of the collar facing to the inside of the neck covering the stitch line.  

DECORATIVE PANEL:  If you're making the decorative panel and adding any embroidery, do it now. I sewed lace on mine to show you something simple you can do!  I sewed lace to the right side of one side of the panel and trimmed the extra from the edges.  You can also add interfacing to this panel piece to give it structure or to support the embroidery or trim.

With right sides together, stitch the panel pieces together on three sides, leaving the notched bottom edges open.  Trim, clip corners, and turn the panel right side out.

Fold the bottom edges under by 1/2" (13mm) to the inside and whipstitch or topstitch closed.

 

SLEEVES:  On both of the sleeves, place two rows of gathering stitches between the notches at the shoulder edge (end with the three notches).  And sew two rows of gathering stitches between the side seam allowances on the cuff edge (end with the single notch).

Now, you add the Gusset piece F to each side of the sleeve. When pinning the gusset to the sleeve, make sure to match the stars and large circles. Stitch from the star to the large circle. Press the seam toward the gusset.

The main part of the sleeve is made and can now be sewn to the blouse.

With right sides together, pin the sleeves and gussets to the blouse front and back. The dots on the gussets match the dots on the blouse front and back. The center notch on the sleeve matches the shoulder seam on the blouse. The outer notches on the sleeve match up to the notches on the front and back. Pull the gathers on the sleeve evenly to fit to these notch points.  Sew the sleeve to the blouse by stitching between the dots (from one gusset, through sleeve, and through the other gusset). Backstitch at each dot.

Do this for both sleeves.

Fold the blouse at the shoulder seams while folding the sleeve in half as well. Pin together, matching the squares near the hem of the sleeves, the gusset dots and circles, and the underarm of the sleeves.  Match the squares at the bottom of the blouse also.

Starting from the square on the blouse, stitch through the dot on gusset, across the gusset, to the large circle, then to the square on the sleeve. Backstich at each square. 

CUFFS:  Below the square on the sleeve, press under 1/4" (6mm) and turn under again 1/4" (6mm) making sure to keep the gathering threads out of the way. Topstitch close to the pressed edge, up one side, across the square and down the other side.  Backstitch a couple of times at the square to reinforce the stitching.

If you want to interface the cuffs, do so now.  You only need to interface one half of each cuff (from the foldline to one long side). Fold the cuff in half lengthwise with right sides together. Press under, to the wrong side, 1/2" (13mm) on the interfaced cuff edge (if you interfaced the cuff), and stitch the short ends of the cuff together to the dots.

Sew the un-interfaced edge of the cuffs to each sleeve with right sides together and  matching single notches and dots.  Pull the gathers on the sleeve evenly to fit the cuff. Trim the seam and press the seam towards the cuff.

Fold the interfaced pressed-under edge of the cuff over the previously stitched seam lines and whipstitch the cuff to the sleeve.

Do this for both cuffs.  

FINISHING:  Hem the blouse by pressing under 1/4" (6mm), then 1/2" (13mm) on the bottom raw edge and topstitch or blind stitch.

I like to have my buttonholes placed on the side of the cuff that will fold over towards the back.  Sew one buttonhole on each cuff and sew on a button to match it on the other side of the cuff.  

This is the Bunad Blouse! Pretty easy right? It's super comfortable and airy. And while it is perfect for using as part of your bunad or festdrakt, it is also a great everyday blouse!

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