24 September 2013

The Breton Tunic Dress


So this dress isn't perfect but omigawd I love it sooooo much! An experiment in drafting an everyday, slightly A-line Breton tunic dress, I knew there was a good chance it'd end up in the "wearable toile" category, but I have a feeling I'll be wearing this wearable toile every day. You know when you put something on and you think, "Right, I'd better get this in the wash early this evening so I can wear it again tomorrow"... or is that just me?



Moving swiftly on, the part I'm not totally happy with is the neckline. As explained earlier, I'm not a massive fan of neckline bindings so, in an effort to create a classic marinière look, I tried simply overlocking the raw edge, turning and topstitching it down. It seemed fine at first, but when I put it on, the neckline just wouldn't behave itself. To get it to sit still, I had to turn quite a bit of it over a second time, resulting in a wider and deeper shape than the beautiful boatneck I had in my head.

Slightly deflated, yet determined to make the perfect Breton tunic dress at some point, I called it a day and resolved try something else on the next version. Yet when I eventually put the dress on, you know, with tights and accessories rather than just for a fitting, I ruddy loved it!!! I'm super happy with the shape of the dress - it's easy to wear, the stripes don't make my hips look huge, and it's got a gorgeous modern 1960s chic aesthetic going on.


I'm not usually one to stress out over the details, as IMHO life is too short and I've got better things to do. But for some unknown reason I went to the trouble to match up the stripes on the armhole and side seams - but not so well on the sleeve seams, as by that point I'd almost lost the will to live. Check it out!

Now I'm on the look out for similar stable striped knit fabrics to make myself a wardrobe full of these...



[Soundtrack: 'Jessica' by Major Lazer]