Pattern Review: Poppy Tunic
by Gina, photos from Heather and April!
I’ve been really excited and pleased with the newish-to-us pattern line, “Make It Perfect,” that we’ve had in the store for a number of months now. Not only are the styles right up my alley, but the pattern itself is written clearly and simply. You may have noticed the Poppy Tunic hanging in the store lately, and I will say it’s a winner.
The pattern offers two different lengths: tunic top and tunic dress, with a difference of approximately nine inches. I made the dress length, you can see how it falls on a taller figure. I used a shot cotton for the main body (as they did in the example used for the pattern photo), with an Alexander Henry medium weight cotton as the accent piece. The shot cotton provides a soft, floaty sort of feel, making it pretty darn cozy. The design works well as a multi-season piece, easily moving from hot summer days, to cooler autumn ones, with a shirt and jeans underneath.
The design itself is simple, no bust darts, or much shaping at all, so it comes together very quickly once you have the top inset piece assembled. The bottom is nicely finished with the accent fabric piece folded in half, providing a bit more weight for the bottom, and no hem to see. I made a medium, which was the given size for my measurements, and am happy with the fit.
I cut my fabric a bit short for this project. I don’t remember if I thought I could just get away with less, or if I thought I’d make the shorter version, then decided on the longer after I got home. It just meant that I was making all that bias binding out of smaller strips of fabric. You could use a premade bias for this, but I do really like the softness of the bias out of the shot cotton. I could see using one of our printed bias bindings with two different solids for the rest of the top. Cute!
We have a wide selection of patterns from this designer, both women’s and children’s. Check out Heather’s post here for a review of the Little Sprout girls’ dress. And, Gail over at Probablyactually, reviewed the Zip-It girls’ dress, here. So cute!