I've been playing around with my
Perfect T-shirt pattern ... again. Trying to prove that you can fiddle around with a simple pattern and get whatever you want. Well, that, and I wanted some knit tunics, because one of my latest quirks is not wanting to have my backside exposed when I wear jeans. (I'm still not comfortable wearing leggings outside the house - tunic or no tunic.) Anyway ... the first was the black tunic. I drew a full front pattern from my already drawn tunic pattern, drew a line down at the quarter mark, decided how long a point I wanted, then joined the point to the "tunic length" sides. I think that I also added a bit of width to the side seams. Repeat operation for the back. I got pretty well what I wanted.
That tunic was actually made as a class sample this past winter.
Fast forward to summer... As I was wandering through Fabricland, pawing everything in my wake, I was stopped by this silky smooth cotton knit. It's absolutely scrumptious. The background is an off-white with swathes of pale creams and beiges. Not everyone's idea of exciting fabric, but I love it. Unfortunately, this doesn't show up too well in the pictures. So, without much over-thinking of the matter, I cut another tunic with an angled hem.
This is the "at home" look. When I'm headed out the door to wherever, I generally put on a belt and (depending on the weather) a scarf or other accessories.
And just in case you were wondering how I handled those angled corners on the hems ... miters.
Last (but not least?) is a slightly different version of the hem.
For this one I was going for the "hanging corners at the side seams" look. There were fabric constraints, and this didn't turn out quite as dramatic a side seam as I had envisioned, and I still haven't decided whether I should just cut off those sides and make plain, straight side seams. In the meantime this tunic gets its fair share in the clothing rotation. It's a cotton/spandex knit - so soft that I tend to maul the hem when I'm sitting with nothing for my hands to do. (That doesn't so so good!)
I can hardly believe that I used up
fabric that I had bought in the same season.
(No addition to stash!)
And I do believe that I am finally getting the hang of positioning pictures on this blog! (Took me a while!)
So nice. I'm with you on the backside coverage, any pants. I really like the pointed hem, black version. Striking and fun. The pointed sides version - reminds me of my attempt at a 'modified' sharkbite hem earlier this year. It didn't work out, but I'm determined to give it another go! Thks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteThank-you Coco. I'm finally beginning to realize that things don't always work out perfectly, and that's OK (especially if there is a way to fix things and fabric doesn't go to waste).
DeleteLove the beautiful mitered corners which take the pointed hem trend to chic and stylish. I am going to spend some time this season morphing patterns so I can take advantage of TNT fitting and just make style changes. Thanks for more inspiration to put that intention into practice.
ReplyDeleteThank-you, Jane! Even though I tell myself that it's so easy to make style changes to TNT patterns, in reality most of them only happen in my head.
DeleteI really like the white one with the mitred corners.
ReplyDeleteThank-you Gail!
DeleteI know what you mean about tunics it's become my new thing now too. They must cover my behind! These are all lovely and I like the interesting hems.
ReplyDeleteThank-you!
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