The Wedges Made Me Do It

"Made you do what?" you ask.  Well...ever since around Christmas I have been thinking about a certain pair of shoes that I fell in love with...kind of edgy, black, high, wedge-shaped.  I recently succumbed to the purchase, and they have been sitting in my closet just waiting to be let out of the box.  Of course, they would require a very special fabric for their first debut.  I began the hunt...I had to be patient....finally just the right print came up.  I've known for some time which pattern I wanted to make.  It is from the March 2009 issue of BurdaStyle and is #103.  Here is the technical drawing:

I was temporarily drug away from Simplicity 2648.  Seriously...it's only temporary!  And here is the crazy, fun, 80's inspired look!

I found the fabric at Hart's Fabrics online.  It is a poly Spandex blend.  It is very slippery, which made it a bit challenging to work with.  When I am working with fabrics like this, I just take my time and use a lot of pins.  I also find that I need the hard surface of a table to spread my project out on so that I can pin and line the fabric up easier.  Normally I stand at my ironing board to pin pieces.

The Pattern: BurdaStyle Magazine 03-2009-103:
This pattern consists of 4 pattern pieces.  It is not too difficult to assemble.  I understood the first half of Burda's instructions, but not the second half.  I too am a visual hands-on learner, without pictures or someone to show me, I have a very difficult time understanding something new when it comes to sewing.  This pattern reminds me of a Kwik Sew pattern I have made for my mom.  It also has four pieces with the yoke forming part of the sleeve.  So I made up this pattern using those instructions and it worked out fine.

The first thing I did was to interface the outside yoke pieces with Pro-Sheer Elegance from Fashion Sewing Supply.  I sewed the shoulder seams together on the yoke and the facing pieces then put them right sides together and sewed the neckline.  I clipped the curves then understitched the neckline.  Here is a close-up of the yoke on the inside and you can see the understitching.

Understitching and hand-sewn facing along lower edge.

The next step is the hardest to describe, but what you do is pin the armholes of inside and outside yokes, from one side of the garment, right sides together, with the armholes from the other side in between.  Then you turn that armhole right side out and do it on the other side.  (I've taken this explanation directly from Kwik Sew 3595).  Here is a picture of what I am describing:

This illustration is from the Kwik Sew 3595 instruction sheet.

The rest of the tunic is a breeze.  Just sew the side seams.  Instead of turning my armhole edges to finish, I trimmed 5/8" off, then bound the edge with self fabric.  This is a close-up of the armhole:

Notice how the facing roles to the outside on my sleeve cap.  I actually don't mind that.  I think it looks like piping.  I did try to understitch by hand, but I didn't like the way it turned out.  So I'm going with the "piping" look!  Once the armholes are finished you can attach the tunic to the yoke.  I hand stitched the facing down so that I would have a clean finish on the outside.

 I've never worn a print, that I can recall, that had illustrations of people in it.  But I really like this one!

That's my story and I'm sticking to it!