The First Rule Of Sewing: Know Thyself

Almost a year ago to the day I purchase a Sew Liberated Schoolhouse Tunic pattern at the Puyallup Sewing and Stitchery Expo.  The Expo is coming up again shortly and with the massive amount of time that has passed and the appearance of some cute school house tunics on the internet I knew it was time to break out the pattern.  And so I did.

After stressing about what size to make I ended up cutting out a size  6-8, but after it was all sewn together I took it in about an inch because honestly it looked like a very unattractive sack on me.

Please focus on the unattractive sack
and not the unmade bed

This is in no way the fault of the pattern (in fact, I really like the pattern)...the sack-like result is solely of my own doing.  You see, as already established, I tend not to wear loose-fitting clothes and I don't think over-sized clothes look all that great on me.

Despite what this picture may lead you
to believe, I am not "with child"

Which leads me back to the first rule of sewing - "know thyself."  Know your body type.  Know your style.  Know what looks good on you.   And most importantly, know what doesn't.  There are few things more demoralizing than spending hours sewing something up (not to mention the money that you spent on the fabric and pattern) only to look at yourself in the mirror afterwards and say "Ehhh.  It's okay."  Which is kind of how I feel about this tunic.  It's okay.  Not great. But okay.

I do think I'll send up wearing it but I'm just not sure how I'll end up wearing it or how much.  If I end up making it again, it'll probably be as a shirt and in a nice drapey, voile fabric.  After that, I'll probably retire the pattern. 
As for the details on this tunic I pretty much followed the pattern except that I just turned under the edges of the placket rather than topstitch it to the bodice front.  I also ended up topstitching the top of the placket to avoid having to hand stitch it down (anything to avoid hand sewing).

I ended up finishing the bottom with about a 3/4 inch hem and the sleeves with a one and a half inch hem.

As for other details:
Pattern: Schoolhouse Tunic by Sew Liberated
Fabric: Atlas in the Wild World line by Jenean Morrison, purchased at West Seattle Fabric Company
Time To Sew: One day
Time to Getting Around to Actually Open The Pattern: One year