Sometimes a project takes for-eh-ver to come to fruition, and you kick yourself for not having at it earlier!
That is the case with this particular project, which sat in a partially completed state for months. Since October, methinks. October! Why?!
I had big intentions to make a killer Closet Case Patterns Kalle tunic with the new long sleeve expansion basically the second it was released. I love my previous version of the Kalle and had the perfect fabric from Imagine Gnats, an alligator green plaid tencel shirting (you might have seen that Jane made a gorgeous Grainline Hadley out of it a couple weeks ago!). But for some reason it languished.
I had cut out the main parts of the tunic and then lost steam. I think that the fabric was a little bit shifty to cut, I was struggling to tell right side from wrong side, and I just got a little bit weary. So it sat, partially cut. For months. Staring at me.
Finally, with somewhat of a deadline (the first day of my new full time job!) and the fortuitously timed Indiesew Shirt Month, I just did it. I pushed through, finished cutting, and sewed the damn thing in an afternoon. And I love it!
I cut the same size as my first Kalle tunic, a 16, because I was happy with out that one turned out. Plus the long sleeves, of course, and my hem facing hack.
My tower plackets are a little bit dicey because the fabric was so shifty, but nothing an average, non-sewing person would notice. I cut the tower plackets, along with the front placket, cuffs and outer yoke, on the bias. This did not help the fabric's shifty-ness! But I got it done in the end.
Otherwise I just focused on plaid matching across the side seams and sort of vaguely getting the sleeves to look similar. For the most part it worked out, although that one shoulder where the black part of the plaid doesn't match across the seam may drive me insane. Luckily, I can't see it when I'm wearing it!
