The Liverpool Tunic!

What a charming tunic! I'm really excited about this - it just feels right, and it's so refreshing to sew a woven fabric for a change. All those knits have been wonderful, and I'll definitely do more. But I think I need some bright prints in my life right now - time to sew out of the cotton stash.

I've seen this tunic many times on the web, mostly in shops that sell indie patterns. But it just didn't speak to me. Then a short time ago I was reading Kimp's blog, Cotton Creek Sewing (a recent find and I love her blog and her sewing) and found her two versions of the Liverpool. Sold and sold! So pretty.

I looked everywhere for a pattern line drawing, but there simply is not one, so I'll describe instead:

The pattern has 4 hem lengths (shirt, tunic, short dress, long dress) and 4 cuffed sleeve lengths (short, elbow, 3/4, and long). It also has a belt that attaches above the waist in the side seam and looks best (IMO) tied in the back. There are side bust darts and double vertical darts in the front, and a set of vertical darts in the back. Very nice shaping details. The front is closed with a full-length buttoned placket that opens into a collar stand and pointed collar.

OK, I know I've said I'm not a collar lover. And I'm not. But this is a very nice collar :-)

I've been saving this fabric for months - it's so pretty I really did not want to cut into it. Do you ever feel that way? It's JoAnns Legacy Studio Morocco Paisley, 100% cotton. Strangely, one is advised to dry clean. ummm.  I pre-laundered in cold water and dried on delicate, and it looks beautiful. No running or fading.

There are a number of reviews of this pattern on Pattern Review, and they were really helpful. And I found support for my disappointment with the pattern directions. Just not well written, certainly not up to Big 4 quality. Which might make this tunic a little trying for some sewers. E.g., there are NO fitting marks with the exception of one marking the shoulder of the sleeve. And there are NO suggestions to trim seams, not even the ones inside the collar and collar band.

The funniest references - and most trying for some sewers of this tunic - are to the 2 collar pieces as the 'first' and 'second' collar pieces, depending on when they were first handled. Same thing with the collar band pieces. huh. So future sewers, here is a fix for that one:

•    The collar piece that you interface will be your under collar (it goes on the bottom of the collar).
•    The collar band piece that you interface will be the outside collar band (it goes on the back of the collar band and marries up with the under collar).

 Sewing notes:

I sewed a size Large in this tunic - a Medium would have fit me, but very closely, and I like my clothes to be on the loose side. While the directions were a little funky, the pattern pieces were great and fit together really well.

I did a 1" vertical adjustment to the bust and front vertical darts (lowered them), and shortened the vertical darts by an inch at top and bottom. I also halved the mid-width of the vertical darts. The bust dart was way too short, ending about 4" from the top of the vertical darts, so I redrew it to be thinner and longer. I wonder if that short dart works for anyone...

I shortened and narrowed the back vertical darts in the same manner, but did not move them down. One little change I made to the design is in the center back seam. I cut the back on the fold and then sewed the french seam down from the neck for 12 3/4". And left it open to the bottom. Just a little something different, and I like the way it looks.

I also altered the long sleeves to get more of a caftan look. I just redrafted the sleeve pattern straight down from the armhole to the hem, making it the same width along its entire length. The hem is turned under 2 1/2" so that any peek-a-boo into the sleeve shows the print instead of the wrong side of the fabric. No cuffs.

Speaking of wrong sides - I fell right into this boo boo. The front placket goes straight into the collar band, the collar turns back, and one sees the wrong side of the fabric at the neckline. It's not awful, but it won't happen again! My next version will have a facing construct under the collar band. Picky picky.

So cute! Kimp mentioned that she cut 5 inches off the ties on her 2nd version, and I'm with her. The ties are a little long, especially since I knotted them (not a bow person).

This was such a fun sew that I'm already working on my next one. As long as my living room is a mess, might as well keep going.

Nothing beats good coffee, the Australian Tennis Open on TV, and sewing :-)

Ciao! coco

The fleece coat is coming along...

I've been busy! Cannot believe how much work has gone into this little coat. The loft has seen a lot of ripping out, re-sewing, staring...

Speaking of staring - see how the waistline seams don't meet up? Believe me, the bodice pieces were cut and sewn the same. Even sewn in the same direction. But somewhere along the way, adding the facing, topstitching, maybe just the material itself where a piece was cut - something changed.

I don't know how I would manage without my trusty dress form Emile.  Or my shoulder ham, seam roll, Clover seam ripper, pressing cloth (a scrap of calico), or razor edge scissors! OK, my reading glasses as well...

But it's almost done! I still have that waistline to fix, and lots and lots of thread ends to tie and hide. And I need to go back and remove the inseam pockets :-) You can't see them, but they are there. I decided to do patch pockets instead. They break up the long long front skirt and are much easier to get into.

It does get a little boring to work on grey fleece all the time - so I've been sewing some long sleeve tee's, all from very lightweight knit (the four in the front next to Mr. Monkey). Almost ready for a photo shoot, just need pressing - and for me to get off my lazy backside, comb my hair and take some pics!

Hope everyone is well, and enjoys a nice weekend. My son's birthday is tomorrow - 45. How can that be!!

Bye for now - Coco

My January Garment plans - a fleece coat!

I'm definitely having some fun with the Late Lunch Tunic pattern (blogged here and here). The lines of the bodice are so classic, and I'm in love with the soft gathers in the skirt. So I've decided to draft a long coat using the LL Tunic as my base!

Here's a look at the lines of the tunic - I'm really not making a lot of changes. Dropping the collar leaves a perfect round neck, and it's easy to open the front of the skirt and extend the sleeves.

Inspiration? I fell in love with this Burda Style coat when it first appeared last year - charming! And the fabric is beautiful. I dream of doing a coat in a similar fabric...

BS 10/2013 #130 Maxi Coat

Here's another gorgeous coat I found, again a beautiful fabric.

Sundance Oasis Jacket

But such pretty fabric is dear, so I'm doing my first version in a nice heather grey polyester fleece from JoAnns (recently on sale for only $2.99/yd). And I'm drafting a lining as well, in black poly/cotton broadcloth. I think - hope - the broadcloth lining will help 'hold' the structure of  the fleece.

My fabric is already cut out, I'm itching to get sewing today! Fleece is perfect for the Florida winter chill. And I'll be in North Carolina at the end of the month to visit family. Not outside, but in and out of the car. This will be a nice alternative to a heavy coat.

The Make a Garment a Month challenge is such fun. And it's on its own blog now - check it out, great garments being sewn, lots of familiar bloggers - and you can join in at any time. It's low-key and really inspiring -  my kind of challenge :-)

Bye for now - Coco

My December Garment of the Month!!

Well, it was New Year's Eve yesterday - so I must be forgiven for being a day late with my December garment (we'll forget about the 30 days preceding that...). Actually I took photos this morning after about 10 hours of sleep, even the fireworks did not keep me up!

Still half asleep - great hairdo, Coco!

My December garment is this little top based on Liesl Gibson's Late Lunch Tunic. I blogged the original version, complete with collar, on Coco's Loft in early December. The big change I've made is to remove the collar and make a v-neckline. I really like this look.

I noted in my earlier blog that I had added an inch to the bodice, front and back, because I'm a little taller than the pattern contemplates. Did not want the front gathers smack across my bust! And I added the fourth button as a result.  I also took the 1" off the hemline, as the tunic is a generous length.

Love this cute fabric, a very soft and lightweight poly-rayon jersey from Fabric.com. So soft that I took the precaution of adding a little stabilizer... I used Pellon easy-knit fusible interfacing in the yoke linings, and twill tape in the shoulder seam allowance of the back lining. I pretty much always stabilize the shoulders in a knit top. Wright makes a 1/4" polyester twill tape in white and black that works perfectly in a small seam allowance.

And now it's truth time - those big buttons will be coming off, little ones going on, and this comfy top is going in my PJ drawer! Not what I intended - but it's just a little too light and sheer for street-wear.

My wishes to all of you, my dear friends, for a happy, healthy new year that brings you peace, joy, challenge, contentment, fulfillment, wonderment, and prosperity in equal measure.

Ciao! Coco

An unexpected gift to myself...

A new computer :-) and I love it. Even if it was not a planned purchase right now!

My laptop took a triple somersault hard drive crash earlier this week. Fortunately I managed to get it to boot and restore one time - and connect to my external backup drive. My last backup was not sooo old, but just the thought of figuring out what was missing made my brain jiggle. More.

There was no question of trying to fix my laptop. The hard drive had a bad sector and a new one would cost as much as the 2-year old bottom-of-the-line machine. It served me well. Time to ante up and get a good computer that can handle the photo editing I'm doing now and let me really enjoy available technology.

This iMac is a wowser! And I did get a great holiday-season price. I'm looking forward to getting back to posting some sewing and catching up with blog-reading!

Hope everyone is doing well. Bye for now - Coco

Liesl + co. Late Lunch Tunic - Merry muslin go-round...

 Another cute tunic caught my eye recently on Pattern Review - the Late Lunch Tunic by Liesl Gibson, designer of the much-loved oliver + s childrens' patterns. Her women's line has four garments and one handbag, under the banner liesl + co. and all are digital patterns, which I love! Instant gratification.

This little number features 3/4 length sleeves that are cut as one piece with the yoked bodice, and a skirt that is gathered at the bodice front and back and has a hi-lo hemline. Oh, and a open-collar neckline with a two-button closure. Whew.

And I just could not leave it alone. So here starts the story of my muslin, which is done in a cotton jersey knit. The knit is on purpose - I want to sew it in knit fabric, not woven. All those gathers, the skirt volume, and the tight curve under the sleeve just seem to say "try me in a knit...".

My first muslin is true to the pattern, with only a few adjustments:

I cut a size 12 (I'm 5'7", 140 lbs, and have a 37.5" bust) and added 1" to the length of all the bodice pieces. The bodice seam falls slightly below the 10 1/2" apex of a Big Four pattern- it's worth doing some measuring on the pattern before cutting, particularly if you usually do a vertical bust adjustment! I do, my bust apex dropped years ago! and is somewhere around 12" from my shoulder.

To offset the length added at the bodice, I removed 1" from the hemline of the skirt pieces.

Also in deference to the extra length in the bodice, I added a third button at the neckline.

Since the front yoke is self lined, I cut a second back yoke and used it to line the back yoke as well. This replaced a bias binding used to face the back in the pattern, and it made for a very nice finish on the inside of the bodice.

And I made one more change to slim the front silhouette of the tunic. I took 6" out of the width of the front skirt. This hugely decreased the gathers under the front bodice (I think that on my next version I will take out only 4"). 

Looks really good on Emile - but I did not like it on me! I'm really not fond of pointed, open collars on tops and blouses. I have a huge big large head, and think it's accentuated by some collar styles. To me the top just looked blah. So I added a fourth button and ran elastic through the sleeve hems, looking to pep things up.... 

Sidebar please:

Buttons - sparkly ones from JoAnn's. I used vertical buttonholes, instead of horizontal, for a couple reasons: (1) the overlap is narrow, not much room for a button of any size, and (2) on a knit, a horizontal buttonhole tends to push out at the edge because it is sewn with the stretch of the fabric.

May I mention that I love the buttonholes sewn by my Singer Quantum Stylist 9960? This area is interfaced with fusible easy-knit pellon. The buttonholes are so easy and pretty, even on a knit fabric.

My second version was not a hit - I knew I was struggling with a sea of grey fabric, but I just could not get over the collar. Everything else about the design was so nice. I did not want to give up.

So I chopped off the collar!! and converted the neckline to a v-neck. Cut 1.5" off the sleeves and re-hemmed them to a shorter length. 

And the sun came out :-)

Loving the new neckline!

Of course, by this time my poor muslin was pretty rumpled and crumpled. and the neckline did not have the advantage of being sewn before the entire tunic was assembled (a little stretched out). A good wash and dry should fix it up.

So this is my version of the Late Lunch Tunic, and I'm ready to commit to my first 'real' go. I have some cute dotted creamsicle and brown poly-rayon jersey from Fabric.com. And even ordered brown ponte on Black Friday, so I can make Marcy Tilton skinny pants to go-with.

And the two together will be my December garments-of-the-month!

Bye for now - Coco