April 24, 2014

The Alys Tunic



The last few weekends we have been trying to get our yards into shape and plant some things and prune what we've already got and it. is. a. mess. Both our back and front yard have been neglected for too long and of course now we're paying the price (the driest winter on record and worst drought in 100 years isn't helping any either!). Plus there's a beehive between our and the neighbours back fences and after the first bee swarm a few weeks ago, that has made certain things a little more difficult (not that we aren't thrilled to have a whole colony of pollinators in our garden!).  We got our blackberries and raspberries planted, and pruned the out of control lemon tree and harvested three gigantic baskets full of lemons (I made a batch of lemon marmalade with them that was mostly a success. My Marmalading skillz leave much to be desired), but it's been overwhelming with everything else going on in life. So when I somehow stumbled upon The Edible Garden I was stupidly excited about growing things again. Knowing that at the end of all the work there would be a pretty and hopefully bountiful garden has made the not fun tasks a little easier.



As soon as I started watching the show I was totally smitten with Alys Fowler, the shows host. She's absolutely adorable and has the best wardrobe ever. Alys wears cute vintage dresses and skirts, floral prints, striped Breton tops, and salt water sandals while she gardens and it made me so incredibly happy. I particularly loved a yellow striped tunic top she wears. It looks vintage and is just so incredibly cheery. My own gardening and summer wardrobe could use a few more long-ish throw on tunics for wearing over jeans or leggings so I decided to make one inspired by Alys's.



The Pattern is Simplicity 8523 and has probably been in print since 1992. I remember buying this because I needed tops and I thought this one was a pretty good base pattern to maybe make more exciting at some point. The artwork makes this look super un-exciting, but this is a pretty damn nifty little top. I made view C sans sleeves and made it longer and wider at the hem to give more of a tunic shape. It's a really quick project  taking maybe 2 hours from start to finish.



For practicality I added some funky patch pockets for holding cellphones and seed packets. And finally: the fabric! This is obviously another bedsheet. I found this one with matching pillow cases at an Estate Sale for mere pennies and what can I say I am really drawn to orange floral bedsheets. This top is from the pillow cases except the arm facing which I used the super faded portion of the bed sheet for. I am so in love with this top it isn't even funny! So in love that I made a gaggle of companion pieces, but I'll save those for next time.


My bandana and cut offs are thrift find and my Espadrilles are from espadrillesetc.com

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