Pastry Line Staple Tunic

If you follow me on Instagram, you may have noticed that I made a few shirts recently. Part of my Me-Made-May’14 pledge was to make one garment out of a new-to-me pattern or fabric type. Based on what I had on hand, I decided to modify the Staple Dress pattern by April Rhodes to make a top. While I enjoyed making my previous Staples Dresses, I felt that I could adjust the fit and length to make something that I could wear more often, as I don’t wear dresses very often.

To adjust the pattern to match the picture in my head, I started by grading from a medium in the shoulders to a large in the hips. That wasn’t as daunting as I thought it would be, but by the time I had finished adjusting the hemline to my satisfaction, two hours had passed! Pattern modification is not for the faint of heart, or those short on time.

The fabric I used was a Pastry Line voile by Anna Maria Horner that had been languishing in my stash for some time. This was my first time working with voile and it is every bit as nice as everyone says it is! While I found it a little more delicate than quilting cotton, it was still easy to work with. Best of all, it was softer and more pleasant to wear, and washed up nicely. I’m really happy that companies like Art Gallery Fabrics are including more voile options to coordinate with their quilting cotton offerings. I want more awesome prints in soft, easy-to-use fabrics!

After several days of deliberation, I decided to forgo the elastic shirring. The result is a comfy and casual shirt that can be worn out or tucked in. It think it will be lovely to wear in spring and summer. This shirt was definitely a confidence booster, as I managed to try a couple new things successfully.

Yes, I did mention at the beginning of this post that I made more than one shirt. Tune in later for more!