Lotus Tunic

I've dreamed of making this tunic ever since I first saw the pattern. My oh my, what a beauty!

But also really daunting. It has sleeves and puckers and darts and zippers and, well gosh it just all seemed a bit overwhelming.

If you want to get inspired to sew all you have to do is walk into any nice quilting fabric store and I will tell you what, there is no going back. Drunk on gorgeous fabrics, things like lotus tunics actually seem like a possibility. Ahhhhh...fabric...so...wonderful.

Because such lovely fabric comes with a bit of cost I decided to first make a Amy Butler's lotus tunic out of something a bit more inexpensive before I cut into the good stuff. This was a very wise decision. Juju made Amy Butlers Barcelona Skirt and she said the size ran a bit small so I decided to make a size up in the tunic. That was silly, because truly Jenny did you really think your bust could pass for such a move? Two inches larger? very silly.

So with the right size in mind I cut my materiel (first I traced the pattern out onto better paper so I have all sizes still for future projects).

Cutting was actually one of the hardest parts. First I started cutting all confidently but then when I laid the two pieces out it didn't look right at all. See there's a pattern there. I needed to line those green leaves up better.


And then, step by step, I made the tunic! It wasn't nearly as hard as I thought it would be. I didn't make the belt loops which I think was a good choice. I did make the muslin lining for the dress which isn't completely necessary but kind of completes the whole piece.

I spent the longest making a few alterations. I wanted the neckline to be just a tad less wide so I redrew the upper bodice pieces to go in a bit more. And I made an underarm insert thing so the sleeve would be more of a full sleeve instead of just the cap. Next time I make this I'm going to use a full sleeve from a different pattern instead of trying to create one out of half a sleeve. So proud of the delayed logic.

Here is the finished piece and me trying to be like the girl on the pattern picture:

And here is a sneak peek of our family pictures (the reason for two sewing until midnight days to get this thing made!) by the wonderful Jenna Cole.


Happy sewing!