In the previous post I mentioned that I had some small sequinned jersey fabric bought from Fabricland at just £1.79/m I cannot praise this fabric highly enough. It sewed like a dream!

Hot on the success of the Aubergine jersey trousers * made from Simplicity 2289, I have now completed the ensemble with a co-ordinating tunic top.

The previous endeavour with the Plantain top by Deer & Doe was not a great success but I could see that there was great potential and having made a few adjustments to the pattern I set about making my second Plantain.

To begin with a cut a bodice front and back from the Aubergine jersey as I could see that the sequinned fabric was too fine to be worn without something underneath. I cut the pieces with a 4 inch extension to the length.

Having stabilised the shoulders, I stitched with the overlocker and then top-stitched with the twin needle. I then sewed up the side seams leaving an 8inch opening each side for the hem vents.

I tried on this ‘lining’ to check fit and it was ‘just right’.

Now onto the sequinned jersey. Having learned from the previous sequinned fabric, although there was a lot more stretch in this particular fabric, I cut a little extra width on the bodice front, back and sleeves.

Next step was pinning the lining at the neck edge and armholes. I had put the tunic onto Dolores the mannequin and it made this task much easier. The two bodices were then basted together.

For the neckline binding I repeated the trick of using the non-sequinned selvedge area cut 2 inches wide x the length required for the neckline. The binding was folded in half and stitched to the inside of the neckline before folding over the raw edge and top-stitched in place. A very neat finish.

As before, the sleeve seams were stitched and inserted into the armholes. I was able to use the overlocker and the insertion went like a dream. Love it when that happens! 🙂

The sleeves have a narrow single-turned hem stitched with the twin needle but I have left the hems on the lining and tunic front and backs as raw edges. The length of the lining has been trimmed to approximately ½ inch shorter than the sequinned overlay.

I am absolutely delighted with how this top has turned out – I originally purchased 3 metres and there is about 20 cms left. So a beautiful evening tunic for less than £10.00!

My new  Sequinned Plantain Tunic Top

* In my previous post I stated that the jersey for the trousers and lining of this top came from Minerva Crafts. Unfortunately this is incorrect. The fabric came with a massive haul bought online from Fabricland. As far as I can tell it is no longer offered on their website but I am pretty sure it was the same as that offered by Minerva Crafts and detailed in the previous post.