I love working with panels and border prints because they challenge my creativity and present me with little puzzles that I have more fun working out. Okay...I know I'm weird when it comes to fabric but so are you or you wouldn't be reading this blog.
When I saw this fabric on Emma One Sock I was at the same time intrigued and skeptical. It was more or less an impulse buy but one that I'm so happy I made. It is purely a printed cotton, nothing eyelet about it, but it is so unbelievably realistic it's amazing. I bought 2 panels and it was more than enough for my tunic and it afforded me 4 scalloped edges. Here is the uncut fabric:
Truly, with the construction of this pattern and the design elements on this fabric the possibilities were simply endless. I played around with it for hours. When my vision started to gel, I went to Simplicity's website and printed out the line drawing to sketch on and that helped to anchor the color blocking in my head:
The back of this tunic is really cute, too. And I can't reach the hook at the top of my zipper!
I like the inside finishing of the band and the front yoke, which extends into the shoulder straps:
I can't remember when I've had more fun playing with fabric! I'm always on the lookout for border prints and panels. I used to be afraid of them but now I chase them down!