My new favorite :: A Washi Tunic with a Peter Pan collar

This is my favorite new top.  It’s a Washi Tunic (from Made by Rae) but this time I drafted my own Peter Pan collar, something I’ve been wanting to do for a long time.

I have to start, however, by telling you about this fabric.  Remember way back when, I was in Nashville for SewDown? Well, I got the lovely opportunity while I was there to meet up with two up-until-then online friends, Jenny from The Southern Institute and Helen from Curly Birds.  Both of whom are amazingly talented and incredibly creative women and happen to be even more sparkling in person.  We spent a morning together and it was immediately as if we had known each other forever.  They were both kind enough to drive me to a magnificent fabric shop in Nashville and we all shopped together.  It was in the vast and stunning southern fabric shop that I came across a beautiful indigo-dyed fabric handmade by the hip, local shop Imogene + Willie.  I fell in love immediately and decided to splurge and bring some of it home.  Well, after much deliberation I finally decided it must become a Washi Tunic.

I used the pattern’s facing pattern as a template for making the simple peter pan collar (and opted not to purchase the extension pack.  Yay for saving money!).  To attach the collar I simply baste stitched the collar to the neck of the top and used bias tape to enclose and finish the neck.  It worked beautifully.  The loose weave of the fabric makes it hard for the collar to lie flat, however, I will definitely add interfacing to the collar next time.  Otherwise, this shirt is a great relaxed, everyday top and I’m super happy with it.

p.s. My friend Jenny, who I mentioned earlier, just turned 40 and is doing an amazing fundraiser to celebrate her birthday milestone.  She’s raising funds for an organization called Enchanted Makeovers that works with battered women’s shelters to transform what can be drab, low-budget spaces into beautiful places charged with transformational power.  It’s pretty great.  It would be super great of you to donate!

p.p.s. It’s Kid’s Clothes Week! I’m signed up this time and the boys have big and terrifyingly specific plans for my sewing this week.  Let’s hope I can live up to it! Are you signed up? It’s not too late!