Boho shirt (and a bonus tip!)

A while back I shared with you the Scout Tees I made, using a pattern I picked up at the cute shop, Needle in a Fabric Stash in California. Well here's the cool thing! The owner of the shop (Sue) designed an add on pattern for the Scout Tee, called the Boho Shirt, and I bought that too! You can pick up your own (along with the Scout Tee pattern) here. Once I knew I had the sizing right for the Scout Tee, I couldn't wait to jump in and try this variation.

I made mine a little longer than Sue's pattern called for (I like my tunics a little long) and I love the way it turned out! The big pockets are a huge plus. If you lengthen or shorten the "skirt"  piece, don't forget to reposition the pockets  My Boho Shirt is made from two Cotton and Steel fabrics.

Then I thought, hmmm, this would make an adorable summer dress! And indeed it does...

This fabric is inexpensive cotton from Joanns and I rather like it! I'd love to make another from a drapier fabric, maybe an Art Gallery which is softer. But this one is totally wearable! Again, I lengthened the "skirt" pieces (these are cut at 27" X width of fabric). 

And here's your bonus tip of the day. I always cut my garment pieces with a rotary cutter. I seem to have more control over that than scissors. Probably because, despite being left handed, I scissors cut right handed. The rotary cutter I can use with my left hand. Anyways.... when I sew my garments I finish all possible seams with french seams. Every now & then, however, there's a seam that cannot easily be done this way.  When this happens, I dig out my pinking shears and trim the seam allowance to prevent fraying.

The other day I bought a pinking blade to put on one of my rotary cutters. (Ally & I were cutting bandanas for the dogs, haha, another story for another day). Anyways, I thought to myself, why not cut my garment pieces out with the rotary blade and save a step later on? Brilliant!

This worked perfectly! I'll be using this trick on all my future garments. Why didn't I think of that sooner???