Flowy or Flattering?

 Not everything needs to be super fitted or mega tight, but there is no need to look like we are wearing a big tent either. Just because a blouse is loose fitted, doesn't mean it can't have any shape at all. What puzzles me is when a top is tight-ish, but it doesn't come in at the waist. Square and tight is simply not a good look.
The solution: take it in.

Don't take it in too much,  you don't want to mess with the original shape, but just enough so the shirt or blouse becomes flattering and fitted. You can make darts in the back, take in the side-seams  make pleats in the front, wherever it would be most appropriate. The cashmere top above simply got taken in at the side-seams, imagine a thin moon-shaped seam at each side. (Like the red dots.)

Sew and try it on, inch by inch. I have destroyed a few tops by taking them in so much that the buttons refused to close. One blouse got taken in way too much at the hips, I forgot the hips are quite a bit wider than my waist........ So just try and see, it really doesn't take much before outfit starts to take shape.
Here are a few other tops I've taken in:

This is a knitted sweater. Tight arms, fitted, but again no indication of waist....Peculiar. 

A cute pussy bow blouse. Fitted in general, but no shape to speak of. I made 2 pleats in the font (starting right under the breasts) and 2 pleats in the back. 

A standard black cotton top from GAP, same dilemma as the red sweater. Fitted, but in a square shape. Good thing we can sew. 

Another pussy bow blouse, but this one was really a tent. I had to shorten it, take it in and make pleats at the back. It's still nice and loose, but without looking like I'm in my first trimester. 

One of my most treasured sweater (£2 at a thrift store), is my knitted Picasso sweater. It's long, warm, AND flattering. Why? Because the brilliant designer (H&M) knows that women are not shaped like boxes. It was already sewn with a female shape in mind, not a fridge. 

In almost all of my Picasso pictures, he is wearing a version of this sweater. I'm so glad I have one too, and that I didn't have to lift a needle before I could wear it. Ready to wear means having time for all the other things in life.