My First 'Tunic Bible' Dress

My dear son gave me a copy of The Tunic Bible for Christmas 2016. It's a beautiful book filled with all sorts of ideas for making a tunic style top or dress, based on the one multi-sized pattern (which is provided in the book). There are loads of gorgeous photos and a gallery of garments made by some of my favourite sewing bloggers.

It has taken me an awful long time to finally try out this pattern, but I am so glad that I did. I cut a size Medium, based on my measurements, but I did have to run the side seams in to get the fit I wanted. The book does suggest to go down a size if using a knit, so I will do that next time.

The fabric is a poly/spandex knit from Knitwit which I purchased back in their summer sale. It must have sold out as I can't see it on the website today. I was immediately drawn to the fresh and vibrant colours of the print.

I used the front pattern piece with the scoop neckline, finished off with a knit binding, as instructed on page 84. I was a little disappointed that the back pattern piece only had one neckline option, which did not match up with the front scoop neckline, so I had to draw that in myself. The suggested length of the knit band worked out perfectly in this fabric, although it wanted to curl along the edges and made applying it to the neckline a little tedious. But it all worked out well in the end.

I sewed the optional vertical darts in the back which gave a lovely shape to the dress. The front has bust darts which were too high for my bust line, but it's not too noticeable in this busy print thankfully. I plan to lower the bust darts by about 2cm for my next version. I cut the sleeves off at the 'ruffle cuff line' on the pattern, but instead of adding the ruffle cuffs, I drafted my own half circle cuffs using the circle skirt app from By Hand London based on the sleeves from Vogue 8945 which I made last year. The sleeves are self lined which gives them a lovely weight and neat finish. There are no hems or raw edges visible.

Wishing you all a very happy and blessed Easter, and hopefully a little sewing time too.

Happy sewing

Jean