ETT — A Few Process Photos & Comments

Okay, these are probably the last photos of the ETT I will post. I think it has arrived at that "enough is enough" point. LOL Here are a few process photos, and some explanations of why I did what I did, and what I would do differently.

So, this is what I started with. One teal-blue White Stag T-shirt, and a $2.99 Goodwill find baby doll dress that was too small for me.

This is the finished tunic (the sun came out long enough for me to get this photo!)

Right off, the first thing I would change is the bodice. It ended up too wide. I had left it on the wide side so I could wear the tunic over other T-shirts, but it ended up looking a bit too baggy, and needs tightening up for a better fit. Also, I am still debating whether to add some kind of design to the front. Now that I look at it, that is a pretty big expanse of blue. The reason I left it undecorated, is that I wear a lot of my own jewelry, and don't like it when the clothes and the jewelry fight each other for attention.

Here is the skirt, cut off of the baby doll dress yoke. I cut it above the seam that attached it to the yoke, mainly because I was afraid if I cut below the seam, the thing would stretch out and I would have to re-gather it up with straight stitches, which I didn't want to mess with if I didn't have to. As it turned out, the skirt ended up a bit smaller than the top of the tunic, so as I pinned it on, I had to stretch the seam, and in some places actually break the threads. Bottom line, it took a lot of futzing around to get the skirt on the tunic top. I sewed the skirt on to the tunic with a double row of chain stitch about an inch or so below the seam, then when finished, I VERY CAREFULLY cut the seam off.

The skirt pinned to the yoke of the tunic. As stated...lots of futzing to get it to fit. There are about two inches of blue tunic behind and below that pinned seam, which gave me lots of space to add the double row of chain stitch. Also I figured it would help keep the skirt hanging correctly, and help prevent the skirt from rolling under if there was only an inch or so of tunic behind the chain stitches.

And here is the finished skirt...attached with the double row of chain stitch, the old seam trimmed away, and then the chain stitch beaded. I also trimmed about three inches from the length of the skirt, as it hit right at my knees. I didn't want a dress, I wanted a tunic to wear with jeans.

And the final photo, showing the fit and length (the front and back are exactly the same, so even though you don't see the front of the piece, you're not missing anything...except me going without a bra. NOT pretty and NOT for posting on the internet!). It also shows how the tunic would fit better if the top part was adjusted to be not so wide. I think it would eliminate those loose fabric folds you can see, right above where the skirt attaches to the bodice.

Oh, only one last thing to add to the tunic. From now on I am putting my own clothing labels inside each piece. Just a small section of fabric with the same cartouche design using my initials that I use on my drawings and paintings, and then the year. For now I use a brown calligraphy-point Sharpi, but eventually I would like to make either a rubber stamp or a stencil for the label. 

Now that this tunic is done, would I make another one? Yes, with a few adjustments. However, I will wear this one, as it is comfy and looks okay over T-shirts...and because I spent flipping FOREVER sewing on all those little beads! LOL