There have been many contenders for most astounding pattern illustration, but I declare this one the hands down winner for best pattern description. Readers, meet Butterick 7162, the Blouse of Many Moods:
Here is the ACTUAL PATTERN DESCRIPTION, which has to be seen to be believed. (Click on the image to enlarge the text):
Where to begin? First, the Blouse of Many Moods is so zany with its "wonderfully split personality" that it has no respect for order. What's with this crazymaking View A for afternoon, View B for dinner, and View C for morning? And frankly, I'm confused by the description "Dinner appetizer with deep cut yoke, short sleeves." Is the Blouse of Many Moods the appetizer? Or the woman wearing it?
The pattern illustration only confirms all the crazy going on here. This is a crime caper in progress if I've ever seen one. View C is the breezy breakfast "Goodbye dear, I'm just taking my pocketbook and running off to do a few errands." In View A, our blouse and its wonderfully split personality shift into serious mode, marching into the bank and clearing out the accounts. (Note the glasses in hand -- a sure sign of Seriousness, though they would be put to better use covering the clear Crazy in the eyes.) By the time we shift to View B for dinner, our heroine's hair is a different color. I suspect she and the Cape-Yoked Blouse are cavorting in Mexico, ready to work their crazy wiles on the next poor schmuck who crosses their path.
A big thank you to Connie of the Pattern Peddler on etsy, who was kind enough to provide me with the back view of this pattern! Unfortunately someone already jumped on this pattern from her shop (and who could blame them?!), but she's got tons of great stuff -- check it out!