Tartan Daffodil

Now there is a great name for a band!  For me it is the latest Tina Given slip that I have made, so let me tell you about it. . . . .

Daffodil had previously passed me by, but when I saw the line drawings - a slip with a hankerchief hem - I thought that it would work for me.  Pair that with some lovely tartan rayon that I had to hand, and I knew that my next project was good to go!  The fabric is very soft and silky with a great drape.  It does not cling - either to me or other fabric/clothes, so will (hopefully) work really well.

Source

The original pattern has two pieces making up the front (and back) as well as having sleeves.  I thought that it would work well as a one piece front (and back) and without sleeves.

I prefer to to wear a cardi over my slip, so sleeves are really not necessary to me.  Having made my changes, this is what I ended up with:

And I love it!  I actually made it too long, so I folded it up 3" which was one check, and you can just about see that around the dropped waistline level - I like to think of this as a design feature!!

I also found that as my fabric was 45" wide, I had to add a band on each side of the hankerchief skirt to compensate for the lack of width.  In my head I devised lots of different ways to hide the seam - a bias binding strip, black ribbon trim, etc., but in the end, the seam was barely noticeable (I actually had forgotten about it), so I left it as it was.  I bound the arms, neckline and hem with single fold bias binding, and OMG - check out how centralised it was on the centre front.  Totally a fluke, but I'll take it!!

I added a single bias cut patch pocket with a bit of black lace as trim.  Oh boy.  Rayon fabric that has a lovely silky drape does not play nice on the bias.  Hence just the one pocket!!!!

Of course, I added a patch centre upper back (the inside one has my label on it) and I used a scrap of lace (leftover from when I made a bra, see the second one down, here)

And here it is all dolled up.  I took part in a '12 Days of Christmas' pledge wearing Tina Givens designs, and as I was at work on the day I wore this outfit, a bathroom selfie will have to suffice!  I am wearing it here with a pinstriped Patricia skirt (which it appears I haven't previously blogged about) and a black jersey/Lycra McCalls 6168 cardi.  I LOVE this look, and have some rayon in another tartan to make another.

Tartan Daffodils anyone?

Edit:  Further to Lisa's question about having to add side panels, this is what I meant:

The solid vertical black lines are the edges of the fabric with the fold being on the right.  The pattern piece extends outside of the fabric (the dotted line on the left) so I had to cut that piece separately (actually there were four additional pieces, front and back, left and right extension pieces) and then attach them to the main body of the slip.

And now you can see why I sew and I'm not an illustrator!!!  I hope that helps.

Holly and a Tartan Cara

Tina Givens has been really upping her game recently and releasing a lot of patterns.  So what is a girl to do?  Yep, how did you guess?  I bought some!

Here is the Holly tunic that comes with some slim leg pants too.  I used a linen mix fabric from last year that had a bit of a pattern to it.  The only change I made was to shorten the sleeves so that they were similar to the Violet that I have previously written about.

I'm wearing a plain slip underneath.  I think it is a Jaqueline but with a symmetrical hem.   On it's own, the tunic is a little short at the front for my liking, and would show off a little too much of the dropped crotch pants, so the slip works really well - although it is all surprisingly warm!

As you can see, the gathered sides add a lot of fabric!  It is rather cute though!

You can see the gathers here as well.  They are a nice addition, but probably not too forgiving if you are pear shaped.

I thought it went rather well with one of my home made necklaces, using a string of beads that were my Mums.

I thought I'd do my take on jeans and a plaid shirt with the lovely Cara . . . .

It was a bit breezy, as you can see, so I got some inside pics as well.

Now I know you are looking at this and thinking 'why didn't she match up the plaid?'  Well, there is a story behind that.  Along the lines of cutting out the back bodice on the fold and the front bodice with a seam allowance.  After a few swear words, and the fabric having a time out, I cut a bias panel to cover the front seam and left it at that!  Bah!  This is a lovely, soft, brushed cotton and I love it . . . except that the fabric clings to my jeans a bit.  Oh well.

You can see the triple zigzag on the neckline and arms, attaching the foldover bias biding.  My favourite, non-bulky way of finishing off the raw edges.

And the mismatched back pieces . . . . . but with a cute patch :)  Oh well, it will still get a lot of wear!

Well, I think that is me all caught up.  I've got more socks on the go, and planning what to make next.  This Lagenlook/Tina Givens fix is actually becoming a bit of an obsession and pushing the other styles out of my wardrobe.  Who'd-a-thought?!

What is your style?  Does it change?