A Washi Tunic

The past few weeks I've been on a selfish sewing bender. I think it's kind of a backlash from the (little bit of) Christmas sewing I did and the fact that I no longer feel like laying on the couch 24 hours a day and puking my brains out (thank you, second trimester!) Also, I've finally hit the point in pregnancy when I can no longer deny the fact that my belly hangs out just a little bit from the bottom of most of my non-pregnancy shirts.

Maternity clothes are expensive and they never go on sale, because stores don't need to put them on sale - we pretty much have to buy them. You also only wear them for about 6 months, times however many kids you have. Unless you're a Duggar, that's a pretty high cost per wear. With my son, I didn't go crazy with the maternity clothes - I worked through most of my pregnancy and scrubs are comfy and fairly forgiving. I did buy several pairs of maternity pants (jeans, cords, khakis), a few tees and tanks, which I am happily using this time around. But coming off of a long, cold winter, I decided I wanted, no, needed some cute, springy, comfy clothes. So I've been slowly building my "maternity" wardrobe. I put maternity in quotes, because I am trying to make things that will look just as cute without a bun in the oven - trying to drive down that cost per wear...

Last year, when I made my Washi dress, I immediately knew I wanted to make a tunic version. In fact, I bought fabric to make 2 tunics. But I also knew I needed to do a Full Bust Adjustment, or FBA, and I was daunted. All of the blog posts and tutorials I read seemed really involved and confusing. A couple months later, I did work up the courage to attempt it and managed to come up with a pretty well-fitting Washi bodice muslin. And then it got shifted to the bottom of the pile again to make way for Christmas sewing. I've always thought the Washi would work well for maternity as well as non-maternity, so I pulled out my yardage and got to work.

The main fabric is Native Foliage in cocoa from Hello Pilgrim by Lizzy House. I love this collection for its bright Spring-y colors, but this fabric in particular because the beautiful colors pop right off the dark background. That's kind of my thing.

I added a band of Kaffe Fassett Shot Cotton in Clementine to the bottom, kind of as an afterthought. I tried it on before I hemmed it and decided that, while it was long enough now, I might want a little extra length in the home stretch, when my belly goes from this:

to this:

I was pretty amazed I had something in the stash that matched. I love how the shot cotton picks up the little coral and pink strawberries in the fabric. I had tossed around using an emerald tonal print I have, but I am so glad I went with the shot cotton. I love the stuff!

I also did the simple U neckline this time, instead of the U-shaped cutout. I can't decide which I like more. The cut-out definitely gives it a little more interest, but this way was easier. I stitched down the facing as well, so that the stitching is visible. I'm not sure it added enough to the top, especially considering it seems to highlight some facing issues I had. The fabric is dark enough to hide it for the most part.

All in all, I'm pretty happy with how it turned out. Now I need to knit a cute Spring cardigan to go over it! I have some voile fabric earmarked for another Washi, but I think I'm going to try out a new knit pattern first...