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| What will I make with a couple of Spoonflower fat quarters? |
An idea had popped into my mind to make a tunic with two fat quarters out of some sort of knit fabric. It had to be a knit for two reasons: they come in wider widths and they're stretchy. The performance pique that I chose to go with has a 56" width, which when divided into a fat quarter, measures 18" x 28".
The 28" width allows me to make a tunic with that length, when the fabric is turned around.
This idea likely germinated last year when I made my Canada Day crop top. After confirming that something could fit me using the 18" across the width, I was curious to try something longer.
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| Sneak peek at the lower half of my Spoonflower fabric fat quarters tunic... |
Using the surrounding white border of all Spoonflower printed fabric, I was able to get some bonus built-in contrasting trim for my tunic. I don't know if you can see it clearly, but there is a white edge along the open sides of the lower part of the tunic in the above photo. This is due to my using the white border as the 1/4" seam allowance, thus preserving as much of the printed fabric as possible (since it did shrink a tad when I washed it).
Here you can see that the white border provided the contrasting boat neck and cap sleeve openings.
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| Close-up of top part of tunic with contrasting white trim... |
And because this fabric doesn't fray, the entire garment was made with just four lines of stitching. (I actually did five, originally sewing a curved seam at the neck, thinking it was needed. In the end, a cut curved raw edge worked better.) Not much of the fabric went to waste; the only pieces cut away were the triangles at the shoulder and the rounded edges at the bottom corners.
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| I love the way the performance pique feels... |
Here is how the shoulder seam was formed.
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| Two sewing lines for the shoulders... |
The other two sewing lines are along the sides, after leaving a gap of several inches for a sleeve opening. The bottom 10" of the sides are vented, as it would otherwise be impossible to sit down while wearing it.
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| How to make your own fat quarters tunic... |
The drawing above shows the simple scope of this project using two fat quarters. If you want to try something similar for yourself with two rectangles of any size, I suggest that you use a top from your current wardrobe as a guide to come up with specific measurements for the sleeve opening.
I used a ball point needle and a stretch stitch for this project, which is highly recommended. (Just be aware that while a stretch stitch helps, it is a pain in the butt to unpick if you make a mistake.)
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| Cinched up with a belt for a different look... |
For those of you old enough to understand the reference, don't you think there's a late '60s "go go" vibe about this? Hard to imagine that girls once walked around in mini dresses and skirts about this length! For me, it'll go over shorts or leggings, depending on the season.
And of course, I have several belts that can change up the look.
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