Fall Fundamentals: Tunic Tee for Thanksgiving

Where's that Pattern? Out of Print Butterick 3383
Many Available Still on the Web
Classic Tee Shirt Pattern

Every Sewist Needs a New Outfit for Thanksgiving 

No Matter How Little Sewing Time S/He Has!

This minimal Rayon-Lycra (3%) knit found inexpensively at "Fabrix" in San Francisco - A Discount Fabric Store - Kind of place that has what it has - has 

Fun stuff - Good Low Princes

It feels good on - Breezy

I added bust darts and also front tucks - which I stitched by hand once I saw how the shirt draped on me

Extended the sleeves from 1/4 to 3/4

Lycra Knit a little tricky

Despite doing a stretched neckband I still had some gap - So I stitched on a strip of black elastic underneath -  just in the front 

Original pattern was a basic tee. I lengthened and added side vents to make it more tunic like

Goes well with the basic black cropped pants in my last posting

What the Fashion Forward Mermaids are Wearing This Year

Another Project Completed from 

My September Sewing Basket!

I adore this 95%polyester/5% Lycra ruffled, mint-colored fabric I scored at Stone Mountain and Daughter in Berkley. That store has a ton of great knits and it's worth making the trip. It helps that there's a BART station nearby (The Ashby Station). I take BART from Millbrae.

I was a little concerned that I might feel like a green marshmallow once the top was done, but it turned out great and made me really happy. And how many tees go with pearls? I feel just like a fashionable mermaid when I wear this ensemble.

The pattern is a many-times altered pattern. It started out with no darts, a higher neckline and a boxier shape. I just keep changing it.

Techniques: Had to take the darts out because the ruffles got caught up and flipped funny. Decided it was much quicker to pin the ruffles in place, when redoing the darts, and sew them by hand. It doesn't take that all long to sew a dart by hand, and is much less frustrating.

I was unsure how to finish the neckband, hems and sleeves until I realized this was the perfect no-edge-sew garment. I stabilized the neckline slightly with tiny hand stitches in silk thread which just happened to match - a spool someone had given me probably twenty years ago! It looks just fine and not at all unfinished.

I put off doing this posting because the photo isn't really very good. Honestly, the shirt looks a lot better than this!