artist in motion tunic

Last week we heard that there’s a new Cutting Line pattern on the way. Time to get the last one made, right?

fabric puts me in mind of crayons

Artist In Motion includes a shirt/tunic and cute little vestee. I was actually all set to  make the tunic when it first came out, but somehow it kept being pushed back. But when I saw Martha’s super version with added sashiko embellishment, it lit a fire under me. Martha’s review is here with links to photos. It doesn’t look like she has blogged the tunic, although she did write about the vesty. I can’t quite visualize myself wearing the vesty, although there have been some lovely versions posted.

So here is the one I made. This fabric, reminiscent of ikat, came from Fabric Mart and is still available. If you’re interested in the fabric, you should be aware that those horizontal stripes are kind of embroidered on the fabric and the thread tails on the wrong side are left loose. I’m not afraid of them unravelling, but you wouldn’t want to use it for a garment where the reverse shows, because it looks pretty untidy. There is also another colorway with a pinky background color. It’s a linen, and although I prewashed, I’m hoping that some additional washings will soften it up a bit more so it will drape better.

I could have moved the towel…

On to the pattern. This is a pretty simple basic shirt shape – no cuffs, collar, or stand. There is a center-front placket which goes together very neatly and would be a good place to feature some topstitching. The placket is stitched down below the bustline – it’s not a hidden placket with additional buttons. There’s just the one button and buttonhole to make, which means this is pretty quick to sew up. It’s also means you can feature a single dramatic button up there near your face. I considered leaving the button off, since I will probably never wear the neckline fastened up, but decided that the it needed a little punctuation.

Alterations – I went from a M at the shoulder to a L+ at the hip, because I wanted to be sure that the tail wouldn’t hang up in the rear. I think I added just a smidge too much and will remove some width next time. I also lengthened an inch.

Next iteration I will make the same dropped shoulder adjustment I made to the TMA shirt. The shoulders are only slightly dropped on me – they actually end somewhere in the vicinity of my natural narrow shoulders.

The sleeves taper to the wrist which gives a slimmer overall appearance. Nice that you can do that with just a flick of the wrist!

All in all, I’m really pleased with the style and will make it again, especially since it was a quick sew. Bring on the new pattern, I am all ready now.

 

About these ads