I had a rust orange colored tunic dress top that was really forgiving and it perfectly camouflaged my mommy tummy, and for that, it was my favorite. I used it more as a top than a dress. I did laundry one day and found out a sharp knife-like edge of my short’s hook and eye made several pin holes on my rayon constructed tunic. It was quite devastating since as I mentioned, it was my favorite. I decided to take it apart with the hopes of finding the exact color of fabric and replacing just the part with the holes. I purchased a yard of fabric online and to my dismay, the fabric’s color was completely off from the tunic so I put the hopes of resurrecting my tunic in the back burner.
This was the tunic dress I ruined while I was doing the wash. I should have handwashed it. There is nothing special about the design. I just liked the color, drape and its length.
I happened to go to the Dollar Tree and purchased a couple of 3xl cotton lycra shirts for a buck each which I took apart for fabric to construct an exact pattern replica of the aforementioned tunic. Doing that was what took me the longest. I wanted it to be exactly like the other one except I put my own spin on it by colorblocking. Below is the end result and no, that isn’t a store-bought RTW 😉
The neckline is the same thickness as the original. In this photo, the front and the back neckline overlaps making the front neckline appear thicker than the original. The sleeve opening have colorblock edges. Pardon the bunched up appearance of the sleeve opening. I already wore this tunic prior to taking a picture.
This is the stitching all throughout the dress. I didn’t buy matching thread for this project hence the white stitching although I used royal blue, black, white, and pink serger thread. My serger takes 4 spools, 2 for the needles, 1 for the lower and 1 for the upper looper. Aside from that, I have also used a regular straight/zigzag sewing machine for the top stitch as shown on the black fabric.
I am pretty happy with the end result. This is my first major project using a serger. I am excited to proceed with other projects in which I actually bought pricey fabrics which I have put on hold since I am still a bit intimidated by my serger. I don’t want to end up trashing my fabrics if I mess up, but this one was different. I had the mentality that if I messed up, it didn’t really matter since the fabric cost me only 2 bucks. I’m sure glad it didn’t turn out to be a flop.
I have just discovered that September is National Sewing Month and I suppose this would be my participation and with how the tunic dress project turned out, there will be plenty more if time permits.