I was all fired up to do some clothes making the other day, after my SIL came round for the afternoon, needing my help to pin & cut a pattern for her, since she wants to try a simple project. I helped her with her pattern, and off she went home to sew. She’ll give me a shout if she needs a hand along the way. This gave me the incentive I needed, the following day, to pull out one of my own patterns

NewLook 6602.
The Plan being to make myself a summer tunic like in view C in a grey/beige floral fabric, and then to make a pair of beige cotton trousers. Seeing the lady in white, I thought my colour combo would look just as sleek and sophisticated, but more practical than white. And thought it looked a bit “dressier” than what I usually wear. Now, the BIG mistake I made is, I didn’t bother asking husband to measure me up properly, across shoulders etc, and all I did was measure my bust. That told me I needed to make a size L (which wasn’t much of a surprise as I’ve put on a bit of weight in recent months). Problem is: even if I’ve put on extra padding in all the soft parts, my shoulders are no broader than before which should have alerted me, and made me use a size M, making adjustments where necessary for boobs. But I didn’t.
I was rather proud of myself, because I think this is my best sewing effort ever. It’s just a simple tunic, but there was quite a lot of construction work (for me) with facing.

Which I over-locked along the lower edge, so it’s all wonderfully neat. And then there was the excitement (and some worrying) when I had to work out how to turn things right sides out “through the right shoulder” after sewing on the facing. I also made a very neat job, even if I do say so myself, of the right shoulder and finished neck & armholes neatly by top stitching all the way around.

I even found two lovely buttons in my tin which were in keeping with my grey floral print. I should have stopped way before I got to the finishing stage though because I already knew this tunic was going to be way too big. I don’t even need to undo the buttons to put it on!

I probably should have tried it on Ivy at an earlier stage too. I sometimes wonder why I bothered buying myself a new dummy. She just stands around doing nothing all day, as I never think to ask her to help me.
While I am very proud of my sewing . . . the tunic itself looks as awful on me as it does on Ivy. It just hangs, like a bin liner. Totally shapeless.

Well not totally shapeless, since it looks fine on the coat hanger but on me, it looks like one of the pinafores my gran used to wear over her normal clothes, to do the housework. I can’t decide whether it’s because it’s too big, the style doesn’t suit me, or the fabric is a bad choice. I usually wear quite low round or V necks. Nothing too revealing, but I don’t like clothes too high around my neck . . . so why on earth did I even try this pattern in the first place? I thought it would make a nice change, I suppose lol.
The question now is: what to do? I really don’t think I have the strength to take it all to pieces and attempt to alter the offending too wide shoulders. This wouldn’t solve the problem of the higher round neckline anyway. Do I stick it in the Red Cross clothes bin, in the hopes it’ll be passed on to someone somewhere? Do I take it to pieces and try to adapt it to a more “me” style? Or do I just stuff it in a drawer and forget about it?
Other option . . . if anyone reading this actually likes it, I’m happy to post (seriously). Tunic, measured flat, measures 17” (43cm) across shoulder line; 23” (58cm) across under arms; and length of 30” (77cm). I’m making the same offer on my French blog, so seriously, if anyone likes this tunic and reckons it’ll fit/suit, I’ll post to anywhere. If more than one person is interested, I’ll pull a name out of a hat. You have until Friday 6th.
Husband measured me properly, after the event, and I’m only 15″ (38cm) across the shoulders which explains why the tunic is way too big on me, and a 40″ (102cm) bust. The L size is supposed to be for 40″ – 42″ bust.