McCalls 8053 as a summer tunic

My inspiration:

These are the pattern photos for the Tosca tunic by Tessuti.

My fabric:

Crinkle Gauze, rayon/cotton, sheer, yarn dyed woven plaid large checks in black on white. 44" 4 yards, $7.99 reg, $2/yard on sale, $8 total. 

My pattern:

McCall's 8053, a simple straight dress with short sleeves.  It has darts, which the Tosca does not have. The sleeve piece from my recent vintage jacket pattern was used to lengthen the pattern's sleeves.

This pattern has a neck facing or a neck binding.  Since my fabric is the type that rolls and stretches and loses its shape way too easily, the facing offered a simpler means of finishing the neck. In a fabric with more body, the binding would be a better imitation of the Tosca. This fabric needed shoulder stabilization with an extra bit of woven fabric sewn into the french seams. The floppy fabric is also the reason there are no pockets. It just isn't worth it because they couldn't hold anything without sagging. This fabric, I am told, will s t r e t c h. (See this post by another sewing blogger.)

In my experience, it really wasn't that difficult to sew, even with french seams to control the fraying. In fact, in most cases, it was so malleable that setting in the sleeves and matching the plaid across seams was easier than with a straight woven fabric. It is definitely a very forgiving fabric! The sleeve length was just a wild guess in this case, cut along the "lengthen or shorten here" double line in the jacket sleeve. However, it is long enough to have a deep hem that can be cuffed up.

Or not.

In spite of the differences, I am really pleased with this dress. I can see that the fabric is not as fine as the crinkle linen that was used for the Tessuti sample, but since this rayon/cotton is more opaque, I prefer it as a more practical, age-appropriate garment. True, it isn't as long as the Tosca, but that was my decision. I opted for a more conventional length, to be worn without an underskirt.

Still, I couldn't resist trying, with the aid of photo editing tricks, to imitate the modeled sample.

I don't mind making myself look older and grayer, but I couldn't find an editing tool for the glasses and the short hair cut.😂