Hi Diane, I had a similar problem. I recently made an overdress from a burnout fabric that frayed if you so much as looked at it the wrong way.
The skirt part seemed to be metres of gathering and the only way I could cope with the endless fraying was to hem the bodice and the top edge of the fabric about to be gathered
before I gathered it. Not sure I've made much sense... (what's new!!) but basically all of my raw edges were concealled before I attached the gathers.
My fabric was very thin so it didn't add to the bulk.
Good luck with what ever you decide to do.
I agree it's a lovely blouse pattern.