Summer events need happy clothes, Burda's lace tunic, 118 March 2011

I'm hoping that— unlike my last trip to England (see previous disaster saga in archives from last November about visiting my conducting kid) which started with a six hour delay for snow and ended up with me heading home one day late to the wrong city, again for snow— my trip to see eldest graduate from university will happen, and happen on time, without me waking up in a hotel in the wrong country.

This will also be a chance to host post-graduation ceremony two best friends who've always been there for me and my kids, because Dad won't be able to fly for health reasons. He himself will be limping to attend, on crutches, the simultaneous high school graduation of our daughter in Switzerland. Two graduations on the same day in different cities.

Just our luck, right?

I'm not sure which outfit to wear, but one item for the days in Cambridge/London is the lace tunic from Burda's wedding issue, which they ran up in a lurid green. I found a lovely remnant of lilac lace and, as you can see from the photos, made one style change: I used the finished lace edging as a style feature at both the hem and the sleeve edges by adjusting the layout. Less sewing for me, and more couture for the result.

Btw, I was surprised to see that this tunic was long and covers a lot of sins around the hips! To be worn with white trousers and a flesh-colored cami underneath.

I finished with French seams and bound the sleeves and neckline with flesh-colored satin, as the lace allows the finishings to be visible somewhat. 

I'm hoping that the color isn't too "old-lady," as I suspect that's why this piece of wonderful stuff was on deep discount. 

A really easy basic pattern that, as you can see, can go very formal with no work at all.

Back to editing my third volume of mystery thrillers for re-issue in paperback/Kindle. The garden is tempting me...