O + S Pinwheel Tunics

We got invited to a friend's St. Patrick's Day party this weekend.  And nothing says party like an 80s rainbow animal print, right?!  Actually I didn't have any green in my stash and couldn't find anything even remotely palatable at my local fabric shop.  This was on clearance (gee, I wonder why?) and I thought it worked for the St. Paddy's Day theme.  My family tried to argue that green was the only way to go but come on, what do you find with leprecans and pots of gold?  Rainbows! 

I could have saved myself a ton of time by buying the bias tape (especially since I'm sure I could have found the pre-made stuff in at least one of the colours in this fabric :P) but I had the yellow shirting on hand and I'm trying to use what I have.  It was a pain in the neck, though.  My crappy iron kept either melting the shirting (it has some polyester in it) or not leaving a crease at all.  Grr!  With the time pressure and not being great at sewing on bias tape to begin with, these are not as neatly finished as I would have liked but at least they're done.

I went up a size for each of the girls this time -- a 7 for my 7 year old and a 5 for my 5 year old -- even though according to their measurements, they should still be in 6 and 4.  Next time when I make the tunic/dress combo, I will add at least an inch of length to both although I think this is fine for the tunic on it's own.  I put the ribbons in the back but the girls didn't like them; they asked for a button and loop instead.

They liked being matchy and twirly :)

The fabric is a lightweight cotton twill.  It was on for $4.00/m and I ended up with 3.5m (I asked for 3 but the salesperson gave me a very generous cut).  I used 1.75m for both these tops and am not sure what to do with the other 1.75m.  I have no plans to make the matching slip dress for these; that would just be over the top ;)  Plus I found these perfectly matching skinnies at Walmart.

Cost (for each)
Fabric including bias tape: $4.15
Pattern: $7.98
Button: stash