Nippers and tucks

It seems as though we've turned a corner; the days are getting longer, the rain has washed the snow away and it's warmed up slightly.  
Now the snow's gone these snowdrops in the churchyard can be seen

  and I've seen my first lambs.  Look at these nippers with their mums

Remember the Chinese style silk blouse I boughtfrom the charity shop?  This is it

As you can see it's a bit big, so I had what I thought was a brilliant idea to narrow it down.  I've made two pin tucks on either side which run all the way up the fronts, over the shoulders and down the back, effectively taking nearly an inch off each shoulder and taking the body part in by over three inches.
It's got slits at the sides with the fancy knotted buttons at the top which I didn't want to mess with so I've just taken the sides in a little bit, tapering them to the bottom; and shortened it.  I've also shortened the sleeves.  The sleeves have a band at the bottom so I shortened them above the band by making a pin tuck on the inside.
My initial intention was to make it into a V neck, but when I buttoned it up properly I thought the mandarin collar suited me, and I loved the colour next to my face, so I haven't changed it.

The colours are gorgeous, like sapphires and emeralds in the ocean

I thought I might have had the mickey taken when I wore it out the other night, but I just had a couple of people greeting me by bowing their heads with their hands together.  I was very surprised when not one, but four men complimented me on it.  Later on, one even said it again because he liked it so much!  I wouldn't have thought men would like high necks like this, but I guess I just looked so darn cute!