Eider Tunic Excellence-A Tutorial Part 2

Its nearly Tilly's birthday so sore head or no sore head.....lets get sewing.
(I will fill you in later)

Pin the right side of the yoke to the wrong side of the tunic.
They are sewn together leaving a tiny gap at the base of the front yoke split.
The instructions have a great illustration of this step.

As usual I sew inside the garment so the opposite direction to the instructions.
As long as you stop at start at the correct spot it will make no difference.

Sew the two together.

This is how it should look after stitching.

Press the seam well.

And then trim.

Turn the yoke to the right side and gently push out the corners.

Press the yoke well rolling it slightly so the yoke is just visible from the inside.

You may want to consider stitching the seam allowance to the tunic taking care not to catch the yoke.
This will prevent the wrong side of the fabric showing at the neck.
You may not be able to stitch the complete neck as it is fiddly but even a little will help.

Press well again and then pin the yoke to the tunic.
I started at the centre back.

And then the centre front.

The sides were too tiny to fit on my ironing board so I pinned it in small increments hanging it over my other hand.

Don't spare the pins!

Really-Don't spare the pins!

Following the instructions edge stitch the yoke to the tunic.
I sewed in the direction of the pin-tucks.

Lift the presser foot often to create a good curve.

The pattern suggest sewing it in one movement.
I chose to stop at the centre back and sew again from the centre front so that I was again sewing in the direction of my pin-tucks.
If I sew the wrong direction over pin-tucks they pucker-This may be my machine!

After sewing and pressing I wasn't happy leaving this bit with a raw edge.

So I tucked the raw edges under to make a 'arrow point' and hand sewed them under after sewing the small gap at the front,at the base of the yoke.

Neat&Tidy Heidi!

I love a white yoke-don't you?

Following the instructions-prepare the sleeve hem binding.

Pin the binding to the sleeve end.

Trim off the excess binding and sew in place.

Press the sewn seam.

Press the seams into the binding and check the pin-tucks are sitting nicely.

Pin in place.

Sew.
Again it may be easier to sew on the inside.

Press well.
Doesn't the sleeve hem have a lovely shape?

This opening may be hand sewn together.
Alternatively,elastic could be threaded through if the sleeves are a little long and removed at a later date.

Lovely!

Hem the tunic.
It can be helpful to sew a fold line.

Fold a second time to create the hem.

Sew in place.

Choose the ribbon for the tie.
I didn't have any double sided ribbon in the right colour so I sewed one sided together.
It will do until I can get to the city.

Not great-but it will do.

Thread the ribbon through the casing with a safety pin.
I cut the ends of mine with a hot knife to sear the ends and prevent fraying.

As directed-sew the hook&eye in place at the top of the yoke.

Finally-sew the complementary Clever Charlotte label in place.

And.........ta-dah!

The excellent Eider Tunic.

Well,it makes me feel soft and fluffy!

I hope she likes it!


Originally I planned on making the Eider tunic and a coral linen Village dress for Matilda's birthday.
Unfortunately,I have not had the best week.

I was rudely awaked in the early hours of Thursday morning by a picture frame falling off my wall.
I am well on the mend now but had a horrid headache and a swollen eye and was put on bed rest for a very mild suspected concussion.
So,no sewing for a few days and I really didn't mind!
Thus,Tidy misses out on her pink dress but I got her a bag of sweeties so I am sure she will forgive me!


Won't I look purty for Sports Day?
x N