The Mount Fuji Tunic

I was going to call this Collage Tee #2 but Mount Fuji sounds so much better, doesn't it? Why the name? You'll see in a moment.

This is the same pattern I used two posts back for the turquoise and navy tee with cut on sleeves and hand dyed accents. You can read the review here so I won't get into all that again but will post the changes.

Fabric:

The black and rust colored pieces you see are 100% linens from the stash. The graphic circles are a linen/cotton blend and the marble print is 100% cotton as in quilting quality. The marble print was far lighter than the linens so I fused SF 101 interfacing to the back so all of the textiles would have the same weight. Everything is prewashed. I've worn and washed this already and it has held up nicely.


Construction:

This top veered from the last one in that I did a bias bound neckline and no lining. All the seams are sewn with the machine and serged to finish.

The neckline was bound in the front with black linen and in the back with matching rust linen. I used a technique where you make the bias binding, fold it in half and then press. You turn in ONE seam allowance to the crease and press that fold in, pretty standard. On the other side, you fold that side in but not to the crease. You make it so the fold on the last side is 1/8th inch wider than the first one you folded. The narrow fold of the bias will go on the outside and the wider  fold of bias will go on the inside, but not quite yet. First you will match the raw edges of the public, shorter fold to the neckline edge of the bodice. Stitch that in.

Then the other side of the bias folds to the back nicely. Pin as needed or use Wonder Tape to secure the back side of the bias binding. You will find that it extends longer into the garment than the binding on the public side. Now, on the public side, ditch stitch at the very edge of the fold. It will automatically catch the binding in the inside of the top. In the bottom picture, if you look closely, you will see my ditch stitching in the well of the seam of the bias binding and the bodice neckline. In the top photo you will see, about an 1/8th of an inch in, a nice line of stitching securing the binding on the inside. It is really an effortless way to catch in the under binding, works every time and I have the late, great Nancy Zieman to thank for teaching this technique. When I think of all the years of frustrating binding sewing and trying to get them to not stitch off the edge, etc....oy,,,,,,,I've lightened both of these pics substantially so hopefully you can see this.

I went a little creative on the hemline. I played with the pieces for the front bodice which meant I had no clue how long this top would be. In the end I decided it would be fun to have the front shorter, squared and straight across and the back longer and curved on the edges. There would be a slit to accommodate my wide hips. It's hard to see here but I did an edge stitch an 1/8th of an inch in from the edge and then topstitched a half inch  further in. All seams and hems were serged.  I really was able to get this together quite quickly.

Now why on earth would I call this the Mount Fuji top? Well..........................









further down............................











a little more.................................................

My original plan was to just do a centered triangle with a circle in it and be done but when I started to play around, Eureka! I had just climbed Mt. Fuji! Who knew?  This is raw edge applique, simply fused and stitched on the edges. it has been washed once and held up nicely. I used Steam a Seam 2 around the edges to secure, nothing more. pressed it on and then just stitched around.

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In the queue now is a project for a dear friend, one I am enjoying. After that I will begin some serious summer sewing. That will include a linen dress for my lovely cross dyed periwinkle linen and a redo of the sloper for my pants. Too many changes over the past year and I need to just get to it and make a new pants sloper. Fingers crossed.........................Bunny