I’ve done much more patchwork and sewing room organisation over the past month than garment sewing.  Since my paid work stopped, and with restrictions still in full force and the kids schooling from home, I’ve had relatively uninterrupted time to just get things done.  I’ve been able to start tasks and just keep on going!  This means that many of those ‘one day I will do that’ tasks are now either done or are well under way.  It’s quite a satisfying feeling, especially as there haven’t been any time pressures related to it.  This tunic pattern, copyright 1979, was also a slow sew.

I’ve had this pattern for a little while, but knew that it required careful fabric selection. There’s so much fabric in it! So many gathers! Fortunately I picked up a very soft and lightweight fabric from Restash that I thought would be perfect – and it was. An added bonus was having exactly the right amount!

This pattern is ‘one size fits all’ – and it probably would fit many. The hemline has a drawstring in it, so it’s quite adjustable.

There are many, many gathers. Gathers at the front yoke, gathers at the back yoke, elastic gathering the fabric in at the wrists, hemline gathering in at the drawstring. Goodness!

You can see how much the weight of all that fabric pulls the yoke and collar backward on me. The yoke seam is actually straight! The fabric is quite lightweight; it’s just that there is so much of it.

The little combined collar and stand is actually quite sweet. I didn’t add a button and loop to do it right up at the neck as I knew that I would only wear it open. I hand-sewed the collar facing to the inside of the tunic.

This fabric was actually very shifty. Spreading the sewing across days made it more bearable – I’d just do one component a day, then put it away and do something else. Not a relaxing sew – and vastly different to sewing quilting cotton shapes together! But I was in no rush.

I have the drawstring tightened quite high above my hips in these photos – if it was undone the tunic hem would be just above my knees; almost dress length! I’m pleased that I’ve finally sewn up this pattern, despite the challenges of working with the fabric. It’s actually a perfect fabric/pattern pairing. Now let’s see how much I wear it once the weather warms up a little!