Tokyo Joe Tunic

I finally finished the Hot Patterns Tokyo Joe Tunic and I honestly think it's the most beautiful thing I've sewn so far.




I love, love, love the main fabric and the black trim, but the pleats on the sleeve are an amazing detail, too.

The sewing itself wasn't too hard, and I think I'm getting the hang of reading Hot Patterns instructions. There's a lot of fabric to cut out. The sleeves have 16 pleats, plus underlays for each pleat. The neckband is in 3 pieces and so is the corresponding neck facing.

My main issue came with cutting and sewing the main fabric. It's definitely lighter and flowier than I'm used to, so I had to be even more careful when laying out and cutting the pieces. And, I don't know if I needed a sharper (to cut the threads) or duller (to slip past the threads) needle because every once in a while the needle would hit a thread and almost create a "run" in the fabric. It's not too noticeable and nothing was seriously damaged, but I might have to experiment in case I want to use fabric like this again.

I'm working on a simple V-neck knit top next. It only has 6 pieces and 13 steps, so it will be much easier and quicker, but it definitely will not be as breathtaking.