Date Night Patricia

Oy!  This one was a disaster.  I still haven't actually finished it, although I think the final version is okay.

I had this vision of this cute knit tunic with a light flowy gathered back.  I'd seen woven versions of what I wanted so I figured I'd try it.  Well we all have to have some fails, right?

I started by going down 2 sizes- this was arbitrary as I just chose 2 sizes since I already had the Large printed, cut and taped.  I narrowed the back a little as I wanted it more t-shirt fitting- here's where things went wrong.  I should have pulled out a t-shirt pattern before cutting the fabric as I only had enough to cut once.

I basted everything, except the sleeves together to see how it fit.  Well the back was too narrow.

At this point, I pulled out the t-shirt pattern and realized it was just not going to work.  I decided to try something different to add width-

I didn't like how this looked on.  I went ahead and added a rectangular strip to the back in order to widen in and sewed up the top with the original straight across gathering.  I then tried it on and it was awful!  I'll try to work up the courage to take a picture to share later.  

I still wanted to submit an entry so on to take 2.  

Again I went with a knit, this time a slinky sweater knit.  That really would not be my first choice for this pattern but it actually fits fairly well.  I fixed the back before cutting this one.  

So, I looked at the tunic and decided I'd made a boring black tunic sweater.  I didn't necessary want to jazz it up with color as I have no problem with black but I wanted something to make it more "date night."  

I decided to make the collar in suede and reshape it just a little bit.  

Turns out though my machine just did not like sewing this so it was giving me tons of fits.  I used a leather needle and had it on the leather setting but still it was just not happening.  I did manage to get it on the tunic but now need to go back and hand stitch it down.  

I used my serger to add sleeve cuffs.

I'm not in love but if I ever finish it, I'm sure it will get worn.  I need to stitch down the collar and do the hem.  Sometimes sewing is not all that fun.