A Boat Tunic

Hello all! There's been quite a gap since I last posted, but to be fair, there's been quite a gap since I sewed.

My sewing slump is down to a couple of things. As I continue to taper one of my medications two of the side effects are "sleep disturbance" (a.k.a. insomnia) and extreme fatigue. I have spent a lot of the last six or eight weeks in a puddle of tired, is what I am trying to say here. Doing just about anything other than staggering from nap to nap has just seemed too exhausting to contemplate.

The second reason is that my wardrobe for this season is pretty complete, so there was nothing I really needed. And I haven't felt inspired to make anything just because I wanted it. There has really been no impetus to break my sewing drought.

However, I did, at some point in November, make one thing: a super easy tunic in a sail/boat print. I did that stupid thing where I didn't photograph it before I wore it, and thereafter on days I felt energetic enough to take a photo, it was either in the wash, in the ironing basket, or being worn. I guess that says something about how much I like it? At any rate, I JUST ironed it from the last time I wore it so I immediately slung it on Flossie to take some crappy photos just so I could finish up blogging the things I made this year.

Boat tunic (Butterick 5203)

The pattern is Butterick 5203, which is a See & Sew envelope and presumably therefore exists/existed as some other number in the Mcvoguerick catalogue at some point. I made the long-sleeved version, B, and is very easy to make. It only has three pieces, it is very loose and voluminous so there is no fitting, not even darts, and I went even further and didn't bother with the opening at the back neck.

Butterick 5203

My envelope contained sizes... I think 16-22? Something like that. I made a size 16 neck and shoulders and an 18 bodice and sleeve. I probably could have gotten away with the 16 for the whole body and there wasn't actually much difference between sizes 16 and and 18 in the sleeve. It's super drapey and loose, so it's ridiculous to say that it "fits". The one place fitting is important on such a garment is the shoulder, and the fit on me is.... not great. I don't know what I was thinking not to do a narrow shoulder adjustment (other than "I'm so tired, I need a nap."). I also need to raise the armhole for the next version. It pulls a little across the top of the bicep.

It went together very easily, except for my usual incompetence with that type of bias bound neckline. I don't why I'm so bad at them, but I always really struggle to find the right line between "the seam allowances are so wide that the bias binding is really puffy and bulky" and "I have trimmed the seam allowances down but the fabric is fraying and the neckline is unraveling".

The print on my Seasalt fabric. It's a sort of abstract sail/boat thing.

My fabric is really great. It's from Seasalt, who make nice casual clothing with a very nautical theme. They print their own fabrics and I guess they routinely sell off the roll ends. I got this and two other prints in 3m cuts earlier this year. This sail themed fabric is a very soft but fairly robust viscose twill, and I like it a lot.

In conclusion: Despite the shoulder fit problems, I've actually worn this tunic a lot already. It's so floaty and loose and easy to wear. I definitely need to make some adjustments, but I think the sleeveless version would be pretty for summer.

And that wraps up my posts on Things I Have Sewed for the year! I'll be back next week some time to talk about this year overall and what I plan on doing next year sewing wise.  :D