Friends, we are skint at the moment! I have no shame in saying this. It is a simple statement of financial fact at the moment, not a reflection on our “value” as individuals! It is, without doubt, a situation that countless families are facing right now. J has yet to secure another job almost 3 months after being made redundant, and while we’re scraping by financially at the moment, there really isn’t room in our budget for me to go fabric shopping right now. Not being one to let a small detail like cash get in the way, I’ve been stash bustin’ instead….
I had this smallish piece of brushed cotton fabric in my stash. A little over a metre long and 45″ wide. I loved the snuggly texture and the plum shades seemed to me, to be perfect for Autumn and Winter. Just one question…what to make with it? The piece was too small to allow room for the placement of multiple pattern pieces. So I opted keep it simple and reached for my trusty self drafted “kimono” sleeve top; with a few variations….
I really squeeeezed this out of the yardage. I managed to cut the 2 main pattern pieces side by side across the width; as opposed to on the fold. I literally had a mm to spare, but I managed it by shortening the sleeves and keeping any ease to a minimum, until everything fit in across the width. I extended my original pattern to more of a tunic length and flared it slightly from the waist to accommodate hips/bum etc.
Construction is obviously really simple. The main change I made here, is that I flipped the facing to the outside to create a little interest around the neckline. I bound the outer edge of the facing before applying it to the neckline in reverse; so that it flipped through to the outside instead; a bit like you would a collar I guess. I then topstitched the facing down through the bias bound edge; so it’s a fixed detail rather than a collar flapping around.
The sleeve hems are bias bound to tie in with the neckline detail; and if you were to look really closely at the sleeve hems, you would see those teeny tiny holes you get along the selvedge. That’s how close a cut this one was peops! Barely enough fabric left from this to make a pincushion!
