Rib Knit Teal Tunic

My latest and probably last long sleeve tunic, at least for the foreseeable future. I had been eyeing a piece of rib knit in a gorgeous teal color and last week I succumbed to the temptation and bought it. I love the color, but the fabric itself is very thin and structureless and seems more suitable for men's tops or pajamas, than for dresses. I had at least two meters of it and I wanted to make a long sleeveless dress for Gaby out of it, but first, to test the fabric, I cut a short sleeveless top.

For the pattern of the blouse I used my go-to knit T-shirt pattern -  Burda 2/2011 shirt #106 B. But the difficulty with the fabric was that I didn't know (and still don't) how to cut it, what was to be considered the width of the pieces - it changed drastically with the stretch of the ribbing. The short sleeveless top when sewn turned to be wide and formless and nothing like the item Gaby had hoped for. So, to save the fabric, I added the long sleeves, a wide and long neckpiece and a bit of ruffle to turn the thing into a passable tunic.

It is still shapeless, but I consider it wearable at home with yoga pants. The fabric is 100% cotton, very breathable and soft and it is quite comfortable, I'm actually enjoying wearing it at home.

And if you are a bit bewildered what I am doing barefooted in a house tunic and yoga pants in the fields - I'm posing for this blog post :) I knew the place we hiked today was not widely known and I could change easily into my photosession attire and back without being observed by other than wildlife, so I took the tunic and leggings in my backpack. However, I drew the line at carrying additional shoes for the photos, and my hiking boots were all covered with mud at this point.