Burda, you had me at asymmetry. What’s with me and my strong attraction to asymmetry? I’m always drawn to asymmetric details in a pattern. Come to think of it, possibly even in husbands, too, as my guy’s got a wonderful lopsided grin.  Anyway! This tunic was on the cover of the January issue of Burda Style magazine. I love the stripes, I love sewing jersey, and of course, I love the asymmetrical hemline and ‘opposing’ bits of gathering at one shoulder and one hip.

It came out more like a dress than a tunic–I didn’t think to make adjustments for length. The first Burda pattern I ever tried was this Paneled Sheath Dress, which was designed for Petites, and it came out fitting me like a glove. So I have to remember that Burda’s ‘average’ patterns are for gals who are taller than me at 5 foot 4 and a half. (Yes, that additional half inch is very important to me.)

I want you to know the extreme peril I put myself in to take pictures of this! Minus 15 degrees Celsius as my husband was taking these pics, and you can almost see me muttering “hurry up! hurry up!”. Ah, life as a northern blogger.

For the record, I am completely OWNING those legwarmers. After having a pair of bright pink legwarmers around the time the movie Flashdance came out a million years ago, it took me a looooooooong time to consider them again as a reasonable possibility for a grown woman to wear. But I either arrive at work miserable and raging because my knees and thighs are frozen, or use those warmer-clad legs to strut around like I’m on a catwalk in the tundra. I choose the latter. (Although I must admit they don’t always prevent me from arriving at work miserable and raging, but that’s another story, and has more to do with the public transit system.)

I looooove the mod look the model is rocking in Burda’s pattern photograph. Anything 60’s inspired and I’m THERE. The black and white combo looks fabulous, too.

I didn’t quite get the stripes matching up on the back left shoulder, but a girl can’t ask for everything from this universe.

The fabric is the same rayon jersey that I used for what turned out to be my favourite sewing project of all time (ok, in this case, “all time” means since I started sewing for real 9 months ago), this striped, asymmetric (shocker!) layered dress, Vogue 8904. The fabric is soft and drapey and really fantastic. I bought it from a store that reeks of skunk — no joke. The store is on a very busy street in Toronto, Queen Street West, and apparently some downtown urban hipster skunk sprayed at the front of the store one day last year and it has reeked ever since. It’s actually overwhelming when you walk in, as anyone who has ever encountered the smell of a skunk will know. Rather daring, possibly stupid of me to buy from there, no? I made sure to wash & sniff test the fabric before going ahead. I’m happy to report all’s well in the smell department on this one.

The pattern does lend itself to making one’s tummy look a little rounder than it needs to, because of the way the stripes & gathers flow around the midsection. Something to be aware of if you’re thinking of making this and you’d rather be camouflaging than emphasizing.

Thanks for reading!