I love the Snapdragon Studios Summer Jazz dress I made earlier this summer so much that when Kim and Elizabeth of Snapdragon Studios asked me to participate in their blog hop, I jumped (har har) on the opportunity!
I decided to try their Market Day Tunic, partly because I love the 3/4 sleeves and contrasting facings and partly because the introductory blog post about the Market Day Tunic pattern made me laugh out loud... check this hilarity out (which is hilarious because it rings so true for me, too, minus the preggo part):
The Market Day Tunic was born from my obsession with 1. tunics and 2. tunics that don’t make me look like a dirty hippie. I am blessed with what you might charitably call an hourglass figure (when I’m not preggo, that is) and what you might (less-charitably) call T&A. I love to wear tunics, but I need some fitting so that I don’t look like a housefrau on a Hawaiian getaway. Not that there’s anything wrong with being a home economist at a luau, but you get my drift.
Ha! So accurate... I like the idea of tunics, but for the most part they are cut too straight and not made for ladies with hips.
The verdict on the pattern: good stuff! I think the description is totally accurate: skims the waist and hips without being constricting. Less dirty hippie, more classy and casual lady about town.
Bonus: the instructions include a really cool tip for turning under the round edge of the neck facing without clipping!
Bonus: the instructions include a really cool tip for turning under the round edge of the neck facing without clipping!
The body of my Market Day Tunic is made from some beautiful floral batik I bought when I lived in Indonesia. I was able to cut the contrasting facings from scraps of Robert Kaufman interweave chambray in a delightful blue-green color left over from another project I'll be telling you about soon. Ah, how satisfying it is to use up those odd-shaped scraps I keep saving!! Does this count for Scraptember? No? Ok, I'll try harder on the scrap front.
My construction notes:
- I'm pretty sure I screwed the cuffs up somehow, but they're wearable, so I am not stressing.
- I always struggle with turning the facings out in the split front. You can still see a little peek of white sticking out at the bottom of the V, despite my best efforts. Would it be scandalous of me to color that bit in with a marker or something?
- I am pretty happy with my topstitching on the neck facings, which I did both on the outer and inner edges (rather than understitching on the inner edge).
- I fall between 2 sizes on the Snapdragon Studios' size chart, so I made the larger size to be safe. I may try to cut something in between the two sizes next time, as it's a little big. I can pull it on and off without undoing the zip...
Get yourself a Market Day tunic! While you're at it, check out the rest of Snapdragon Studios' beautiful patterns, too!
