Songs, skirts and scones

A couple of weeks ago I received my long yearned for order of the Sew Liberated Schoolhouse Tunic pattern and a long long stretch of Anna Maria Horner’s Fortune Sea fabric. While I finally had it, I didn’t dare cut it, in case the tunic would prove too small, wrong fit etc etc etc. The only way around that would be to make a test tunic. Unfortunately my fabric pile did not have enough fabric to make up the 2.7 metres I would need for the tunic. Maybe patching things up would work, but I figured: what if the tunic is perfect, but I can’t wear it because it is made out of seven different colours? I might as well go for a proper, but cheap fabric.

Up and away to the fabric shop to get pattern paper and fabric. Ha, paper yes, fabric, no. Only synthetic fabrics and not what one would call cheap. But not to worry: I still neede plenty of time to trace the pattern AND add one size to the largest on the pattern… Although all my tops are a size 20 when shop bought, the schema of the pattern said I would not fit into their size 20. With a lot of patience and double calculations I increased the largest size to a 22…

A solution for the fabric came from an (for me) unexpected corner: Hendrikje and I went to the Barnardos to leave down some clothes all children grew out of. And what did my eye spy? A second hand, o sorry, *cough*, a vintage *grin* duvet cover! Lovely smooth and fine fabric in creme with orange motive on one side, and a woven orange, brown and green striped fabric on the other. £2.99! I didn’t have to think for too long, and that same evening I was cutting the pieces for my first schoolhouse tunic.

Before long I was pinning and sewing away, feeling so happy that most of the pieces actually fitted! Only one piece had a little excess fabric, which was swiftly cut away. Yesterday night I finished it and I was really pleased. The shape seems to suit me, although the split at the front gapes a little more than on any photographs I have seen so far, as I am just a tiny weeny bit more endowed than others. Perhaps with the ‘proper’ tunic, I will close the split a few inches at the bottom.

This entry was posted on Monday, July 12th, 2010 at 8:51 pm and is filed under Sewing. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.