Spring is just around the corner (I hope!) and I’ve got spring clothes on my mind.  I’m still very much pregnant, but I want to try and make something that I can adapt and wear after the baby comes as well.  So today, we will be making a back tie maternity tunic.  It will be a simple tunic with a detail of a tie on the back neckline.  A little comfy, a little airy, a little springy?  I hope so because that is what I am going for! 🙂

The skinny:

Overall, this is just like any standard t-shirt, though I will make this a bit longer than your average shirt to accommodate my belly.  It will have short sleeves and a scoop neckline in the front.  The back will feature a slightly lower scoop neckline, with a little cut out detail where the fabric ribbon will be attached to, allowing the pretty little tie detail.

Materials:

• pattern supplies (pattern paper, pencil, scissors, rulers)
• a shirt that you can use as a guide

• 1½ yards of knit flowy fabric
• 1½ yards fabric ribbon
• matching thread

Back Tie Maternity Tunic Tutorial

Instructions:

MAKING THE PATTERN

1.  First we will make the pattern for the front of the tunic.  Tuck the sleeves under your guide shirt.  Trace around the neckline, where the sleeves attach, and the sides, adding your desired seam allowance.

If desired, edit the neckline.

Make it to the length that you want and add your desired seam allowance.  Mine will be 31½ inches from top to bottom.

Fold it in half lengthwise and cut it out.  This will ensure that it is even on both sides.

2.  Make a second copy of this.  This will be the back of the tunic.

Alter the back neckline so that it is a bit lower than on the front of the tunic.

Now make a little v cut at the bottom of the back scooped neckline.  I’m going to make mine 4″ deep and about 2″ wide at the top.

3.  Next we will make the neckline lining.  Trace around the necklines of the front and back of the shirt patterns.  Using a ruler, make the neckline patterns piece 1½” wide and cut them out.

4.  Next, the pattern for the sleeves.  Take a piece of pattern paper, fold it in half, and tuck it under the sleeve opening of the shirt so that the fold matches up with the top of the shoulder.  Trace around the sleeve opening.

From the top of where you traced the sleeve opening, measure your desired sleeve length down along the fold (mine is 11″).  Draw a straight line down from the sleeve end to your desired measurement that is at least half the circumference of your arm (I’m going to make mine 5¼”).

Now draw a line from the edge of your sleeve just up to the bottom armpit area of the sleeve.  Draw a little curve near the armpit area.  Cut this out.  Unfold it and you now have your sleeve pattern.

MAKING THE TUNIC

I’m going to fold my fabric in half before laying my pattern pieces onto it, so I can cut two of everything at once.

1.  Pin/trace your front and back tunic, sleeve, and neckline lining pattern pieces onto the wrong side of your fabric, keeping sure to orient the grain of the fabric so that the stretch goes from side to side.  Cut these out.

2. Take your front and back tunic pieces and, right sides together, pin and sew across each shoulder.  Trim off any excess fabric.

3.  Next we will attach the sleeves.  Right sides together, match the middle of the shoulder part of the sleeve to the shoulder seam on the shirt, pin the sleeve in place, making your way down to the armpits.  Sew this together.  Repeat with the other sleeve. Trim off any excess fabric.

**If you have really stretchy fabric, don’t fight it and stretch the material to make it fit.  That will give the seam some funky rippling that you probably don’t want.

4.  Now we will sew the sides of the tunic together.  Right sides together, starting with the end of one sleeve, pin and sew along the bottom of the sleeve, to the armpit, along the side and down to the bottom of the tunic.  Repeat this for the other side and cut off any excess fabric.

5.  Next, the neckline.  Right sides together, pin and sew the ends of your neckline linings together so it forms a circle, of sorts.

Right sides together, pin the neckline lining to the tunic.  To make sure it is put on evenly,  first pin each seam of the neckline lining to the to top each shoulder, then pin the middle of the front of the lining to the middle of the front neckline, and then the middle of the back of the lining to the middle of the back of the neckline.  Add more pins as you want but you will have to try and make sure it’s pinned evenly.  Sew this together.

Using scissors, cut right down to the v-neck point without cutting into the thread.

Tuck the neck lining fabric into the inside of the shirt so you see right side of the seam.  Pin the lining in place on the wrong side of the shirt and again sew around the neckline, but this time use a wide straight stitch.

6.  Now, hem your sleeves to your desired length.  I’m going to do a rolled hem (fold it in twice and then hem it).

Then hem the bottom of the tunic to your desired length.

7. Okay, we are almost there! Now for the back tie detail.  Cut out two of the same lengths of fabric ribbon to use as your tie strings.  I cut mine each 28″ long.

Pin them to either side of the top of the v-neckline cut on the wrong side of the back of the tunic.  Sew in place.

And done! I hope you enjoyed my Back Tie Maternity Tunic tutorial!