Roses for My Rosa

Spring may be almost over in Florida (I know, some of you in cooler climes are still waiting for its arrival), but I'm holding on as long as I can. What says Spring more than flowers? But since I'm hopeless at growing flowers, I can at least sew with them.

This may be one of my favorite projects for Rosa to date (I know I keep saying that...). The floral fabric is a lightweight almost-lawn print that I salvaged from a thrifted shirt. I loved the print, but the shirt didn't fit right (weird bias + ruching stuff going on in the front). Now I'm glad it didn't! The floral reminds me strongly of a Liberty print, which is a little too pricey for me to indulge in on a regular basis (though I did recently buy a little bit of this, which I'll make into another tunic if I can get up the courage to cut into it!).

I cut the sleeves straight out of the existing shirt sleeves -- I couldn't bear to scrap the adorable shirred detail, so I incorporated it.

To salvage the sleeves, I cut them off the shirt and pinned them to my ironing
board (to stretch them out fully). Then I just cut my pattern piece out and sewed
up the sleeve seam.

And for once, I drafted the entire pattern from scratch. Well, essentially -- I used a pattern piece I'd previously drafted for a sundress (which I need to post about soon!) to get some idea for the right bodice measurements. But since I drafted that pattern, too, I figure it counts. I was strongly inspired by Alicia's tunic in this post, but I was too cheap to buy the Citronelle pattern she used. Though at some point I will just break down and buy one (or two... or three) of their patterns; they are too charming! 

Obviously I went for a back closure, inspired by these adorable tops. I really like how the back overlaps enough to be "modest" (not that it's a huge concern for my 18 month old), but eliminates the fussiness of a placket. Plus, it's easier to line and assemble. I used muslin for the "skirt," which I had leftover from a recent curtain project. The entire tunic is lined (with the exception of the sleeves), and it really has just the right weight to it.

Not only does this tunicd fit her perfectly now, I have a feeling she'll get a lot of wear out of it. 

Notice the button tab in the back? It's my favorite bit, and it was really an afterthought -- a bit of a shame, because I could have sewn it into the lining if I'd thought of it earlier! But it's hand-stitched to the lining instead, and it just makes me happy to look at it. 

I feel like I've been sewing up a storm this Spring. Maybe it's my form of therapy? Maybe it's just having a small person who's a blast to sew for. I think knitting is about to give sewing a run for its money, though. I left a knitting project at a friend's house recently, and I was antsy the entire evening. No joke. Hopefully the novelty will wear off soon, and I can pursue it like a normal human! Though my 32" circular needles just came in the mail, so now I have even more reason (and fewer hindrances) to knit. C'est la vie, right?