Challenge 6 - Judges's Choice

Using the fabric the judges selected for us, we were challenged to make a unique garment and work with a material we may not have used before.

The fabric was in the judges words “ a pretty chiffon panel print” My description is “polyester chiffon, stripes in 1980’s colors of muted forest green, mauvey pink, milk chocolate brown with a border. I believe the challenge was to work with chiffon, which can be difficult. For me this challenge was the fabric print.



Challenge Fabric

Immediate ideas for garments were a maxi dress, or beach type cover-up, neither of which I would wear So I asked myself what to I like to wear in silk chiffon and one of the answers was thigh length, body skimming tunics, over cami's and skinny pants. They make me feel elegant, lean, and covered up at the same time. So I went looking for a tunic pattern that would somehow use the border. After much internet searching and looking through back issues of all my pattern magazines, I found the one that inspired me, that motivated me to move beyond my dislike of the fabric. It was in issue 154, (2009) of Mrs Stylebook.



Mrs Stylebook Tunic

 Mrs Stylebook is a quarterly Japanese magazine  full of drafting instruction for women’s garments that are slightly different styles than what you would find in other pattern magazines. No patterns, but diagrams that show you how to take your sloper and by dropping the armhole 2cm, extending the bodice length 18 cm, or drafting a sleeve based on the length of the your front and back armhole, you end up with a pattern for a garment that will fit you perfectly, because it was drafted using your sloper as a starting point.





Mrs Stylebook tunic drafting instructions

  This pattern was a fairly easy draft. It is a basic un-darted shirt with shaped flounces added to the bottom edge. The collar is a simple rectangle that is gathered to fit the neckline. There are two layers of flounces, one shorter than the other, both with points that hang down in the center of each front and back side panel. I cut the body and sleeves from the striped part of the fabric. I cut the flounces on the border print area. One of the problems I have with this print is that it is busy. There is no one shape or color my eyes want to focus on. And if made it into a garment, an onlooker would have the same problem. So I happened to have a polyester organza ombre fabric colored from light tan to milk chocolate brown. I made the front button placket in this fabric starting with the tan at the bottom and ending in the darker brown near the face with the collar in the same shade of brown. The flounce edges are finished using a serged rolled hem. I have used sergers for 30 years and this is the first time I have used a rolled hem on a garment. You can teach an old horse new tricks! Though I need some more practice, the stitching was not as pretty as the quide book pictures. French seams were used on all straight garment seams and serging finishing on the armholes. I actually like the finished garment. And it is fun to wear, very flowy with lots of movement. The pattern is definitely a candidate for making again.