Hello again folks, I hope you're staying warm. I thought I'd share one of my favorite holiday looks from last year. You may recall Fonnell's post from a while back
I used my favorite T shirt pattern to create a swingy tunic to wear over slightly sparkly leggings for casual holiday festivities. In this post I will outline my steps for you. The leggings are from a pattern I reviewed here.
The Pattern:
I have reviewed this T-shirt pattern before here. The important part of this process is to start with a T-shirt pattern that you have carefully fitted to your liking. Your favorite pattern may have a bust dart or maybe not. The alterations to add fullness to this pattern are all done below the waist so your dart will not be affected. Once you have worked out all your necessary fit alterations then the fun can begin!
The Alterations:
The lines I drew in red, where you will slash and spread the pattern, all occur from the waist down so the fit on top is mostly unaffected. 
Below is a photo of a scaled down back
pattern piece against the actual finished garment. 
Feel free to practice
this on paper in a smaller scale just to get the hang of it. Make sure to leave the paper attached at the side and back seams to make it easier to spread the pattern to add paper behind it. The white line drawn in the photo is where I created a slightly longer, curved back hem to make sure to cover my behind.
The front pattern piece is done similarly but with one crucial difference. Because I still wanted to cut the front in one piece, on the fold of the fabric, I only cut the center and side spread lines to add fullness to the sides but not the center of my front piece. Again the white line drawn in represents the additional curve I added to make this more of a tunic.
Once you're satisfied with the fullness and length you've added, the seams will need to be trued to be sure the length and shape of the side seams match. The back will have to have a center back
seam now to accommodate the extra fullness in the pattern. This center
back seam allows for further tweaking of the fit in case you'd like your
top more or less fitted through the waist.
You can see where most of the added fullness falls to the back in soft, vertical folds. This top is fairly fitted from the shoulders to the waist and the drama falls below.
The Fabric:
This particular top is made up in what I would call a slinky fabric. It is a medium weight knit with a jacquard like animal stripe. The weight and drape of this fabric turned out to be a perfect fit for this holiday tunic. I have made this same top in a rayon knit but find it clings a little to my leggings. I like the feel and weight of the slinky knit better. Most medium weight knits should work for this as long as they're not too clingy or too stiff.
Conclusion:
Don't be surprised if you need a couple of test garments to get the fullness just right. I sure did. The challenge is to get the right fabric to match the fullness added to the pattern. Now that this pattern has been altered for this shape I will absolutely save it for the next time just the right fabric comes along. 😉
I hope you find yourself a pattern that fits to a T. It's worth it to have one on hand that can be a base for any style that suits your fancy.
Until next time then,
Happy sewing everyone from,
Ann in Calif.
