Lela Tunic

On a recent trip we picked up this Lela tunic and blouse pattern from Green Bee Patterns plus Tim Holtz fabrics to make it. I love how Tim Holtz designs his fabrics and crafting products, it's kind of a grungy vintage type of style. This pattern took me a few days to decide to go for it and start making a muslin sample. After I did that, it was time to start cutting into the real thing.

I also pulled out my trusty old serger, cleaned her up and got her ready to get the raw edges finished. Nothing like a putting effort into making clothing and not finishing the raw edges. I have to say that this is the easiest and well written pattern I have ever used when it comes to clothing. I always cringe when it comes to sewing the sleeves to the bodice because of the ease. The Lela tunic does have an ease but for some reason I didn't have to ease in anything. It fit just right along the sleeve section of the bodice. The tunic drapes quite nicely on the body. I love the length. It's perfect to hide any flaws one might have, just not on this beautiful model. She's perfect ;-D

Add a large handmade leather belt to give it a different look. Love it!

The yoke gives you the choice to have contrasting fabrics like this one. I just love this beautiful butterfly fabric. It's such a fun print.

The sleeves have a cuff that you could also add a contrasting print to. What I love about the sleeves are that the facing called for a hem facing which makes it super easy to get that nice finished hem. The designer also used the same method that I've been using for years when constructing the sleeves. It makes it really easy to adjust later on if you need to. Sometimes the under arm area is a bit larger requiring some minor adjustments. It's nice to be able to adjust it without having to take the whole sleeve off to do it. 

The same thing goes for the neckline. It is so easy to sew the facing on. I did however take a bit of a shortcut when it came to finishing the bottom of the tunic.

For the bottom hem, the pattern does call for facing to be sewn on, but I didn't think I need to do that. After I finished all the raw edges with my serger I did a double fold along the hem line and topstitched it in place. This is one of those patterns that I am going to be using for a few more tunics. I am thinking of making some with knitted fabrics. Imagine how nice it would drape with knit fabrics. 

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Last of all my disclosure: I was not paid or rewarded in anyway for this pattern review. I bought the pattern for my own personal use. All opinions are my own.