Burda Style Tunic 01-2013-125

This has to be a record for me. I actually made this top in January, the same month in which this issue was published! I’m just a little behind blogging about it.

This top is featured in the magazine in a sequin fabric. Mine is a velour! Definitely not the same, but I liked the simple shape and have been looking for an easy pattern to use for velour. Ideally I want a standard sweatshirt pattern, like this one from That’s Not My Age. I’ve got a piece of luscious, velvety velour, and in a similar colour too (it’s way nicer than the fabric I used on this tunic).

The velour used for this version is ok, but the nap is a bit flatter, so it’s more of a wearable muslin. I made my usual adjustments on the paper pattern pieces, but there are still some things that need tweaking, mainly the shoulder slope/armscye depth. The photo at left is how it sits normally, and the right one shows how it sits when I lift my shoulders a bit – some of the pull lines disappear and it looks a bit smoother.

 

When I look at these photos I really notice how sloped my shoulders are. I already sloped the shoulders a bit and dropped the armscye, but it looks like a bit more is needed. Here are the side shots with my shoulders normal (left) and up (right).

 

One of my usual alterations is to widen the sleeve at the bicep by 1 inch, which ends up dropping the sleeve cap height. I’m not sure if height can be added back without lengthening the sleeve’s top edge. Do those sleeves look alright? Those wrinkles are always there pointing up to the sleeve cap, and it niggles me a bit!

I think I need to do something with the front though, it’s got the same thing happening as on my last Sorbetto, where the front hem sticks out. Someone commented on that post that I may need to do a slight FBA. I wondered about pulling in a bit of fabric under the bust dart (increasing it) which would essentially rotate the bottom front section and pull the hem back in. Anybody else have any idea?

This is the back shot, which I’m not keen on.  At all! My butt is acting like a shelf! I’m not sure how a swayback adjustment could make this look much better, as the fabric is hefty, and the top is hip length after all. This style just might be one of those I should stay away from, as NOONE here at home has even commented on it.Does that say it, or what?!

The line drawing looks nice, slimming!

I guess I’ll just keep looking for a pattern more in the vain of a sweatshirt that has a bottom band and sits above the high hip. OR, get my dummy/twin finished and drape one. And that’s coming on slowly, but some progress has been made! More on that front soon.

WIWT: new Jalie 3132, and stuff

What I Wore Today to the spa for a pedi! (OK, I dallied too long on the laptop and had to dash through the shower to make it there on time…and I was late as usual! Hence the headless shot; no makeup or accessories.)

Most Wednesdays I meet up with the ladies (that’s us SAHMs!) for what we call our Wednesday Staff Meeting – usually a coffee/latte with delish pastry at Stella Luna’s on Bank St. Yes, on this chilly, grey morning, I decided to wear this cheap bright green, cotton knit Jalie top – a wearable muslin, mainly for home – with my Jalie 2908 jeans from last year.

Not too bad, it fits in the right places. I didn’t do much altering as the shape is pretty good: I shortened it the usual amount (2”), as well as the sleeves (also 2” – maybe not so short next time?) to fit my petite 5’ 1” frame. This colour is, ahh, intense, and so no thread will match it (it would be mad!) so I coordinated, with 2 colours of almost the same blue/green shade (both spools had almost nothing left, and this was the only way I could think of to double-topstitch without running out of thread in the middle.)

[This one of the hem is the most accurate rendering of the colours.]

And to cheer myself up, I chose bright red polish at the spa. After the summer-like weather of a week ago, we’ve been plunged back into the season of cold and rainy days. Hmmm.

Here I’m sitting on an ottoman (1 of 2) that hubby and I made several years ago – one of my “escapdes”. It was *interesting* building the frame and sewing the cover, but not cost effective! The 10” HD foam cost a fortune.

So, that’s how I cheer up mid-week! How about you?