Liberty Tunic

This one has been a while in the making - I've been dreaming up ideas for a tunic ever since spotting the Liberty print at last month's trip to the sewing fair.

From early on, I knew I wanted to use my Lisette 2211 pattern - but to try and modify it with a Peter Pan collar, as I've been seeing lots of them around, and really fancied a top with one on.

Then I discovered the lovely Scruffy Badger - her use of ric rac in her own hand made wardrobe inspired me to try it on the collar for a scallop effect.

The invisible pen helped me stay accurate with sewing the seam so that ric rac was evenly placed. It wouldn't take a genius to work it out, but I was pleased with myself for coming up with the idea (which worked nicely on avoiding unpicking).

You can probably guess from all the pictures I took of the collar making that I really enjoyed this process! Sometimes sewing and creating something makes me really happy.

Still undecided on what sort of sleeves to go for, I showed the fabric to my friend Caroline - she made the connection with the ideas I was describing to her and Mary Quant.

The idea for the band at the bottom only came once I had cut the main pieces, and could see what Caroline had been saying to me in terms of finding a way to balance the garment to reflect the changes I had made by altering the neck.

And the bow? Well, the tunic just seemed to need something else - in black. And I remembered an embroidered design on the pocket of a vintage dress I had seen a while back, and adapted it into an easier version out of (more) ric rac.

All the extra unplanned ric rac meant I urgently needed to go on a second trip to Singers - with the girls, on route to a day out to see...

And while on the subject of Singers, oh my goodness - if you are local to Bedford, and like sewing, have a look at the new goodies they have in there now. We are talking leather bag handles in lots of cool colours, tons of beautiful buttons, and that's all in addition to all the lovely cotton prints already talked about here.

That's about it! Oh, no it's not - nearly forgot, I added darts on the back, and a slit and button opening, to help get the thing over my enormous head. Full of brains, I tell myself.

Now I have something to wear with my new red lipstick and the first pair of leggings I have owned in a couple of decades or so...