Made by a Fabricista: Summer Sunburst Tova

Hello! I'm glad to be back on the Fabric Mart blog and joining the other Fabricistas with a new summer project for May. Well, I may have been one of the few people on the sewing planet that hadn't made Wiksten's Tova Tunic, but folks things have finally changed. I'm bringing summer in with a sunny sunburst Tova.


There are plenty of reviews of the Tova tunic out there so there's no need for me to review it here. But I will say although the blouse has simple lines and lends itself to all types of fabrics and embellishments, I wouldn't recommend it for a beginner. It's a seasonless pattern and would be a great project for an intermediate sewer.

Some time ago I pinned a Steven Alan shirt onto my I Wanna Make This Pinterest board because I loved the fabric. Eureka! I found it! Fabric Mart's abstract bursts 100_ lightweight handkerchief linen in white, blue and pale coral is just that fabric! This linen is lighter than any other I've ever worked with but still is crisp like other linens. I machine washed and dried it before I cut it out and it came out lovely.

The colors are beautiful in this fabric and I decided to highlight the coral on the bib of the tunic using embroidery thread and my sewing machine. Reverse bobbin work is popular among art quilters but I don't often see it anywhere else. Quilters take decorative threads that don't fit through sewing machine needles and wind them on the bobbin instead. When you sew from the wrong side, the decorative thread from the bobbin shows through on the right side.

For the reverse bobbin work, I used DMC embroidery floss and wound it by hand on a bobbin and loaded it into my machine without changing any settings. Don't be afraid...just do it...it'll be okay.



Working from the back of the blouse, I stitched along the seam line of the bib of the tunic so the bobbin thread would show on the front. It's as easy as that.


It's subtle but isn't it pretty? I also added some to the band of the sleeve. Once you get going it's hard to stop. And yes, reverse bobbin work washes well.


I ended up shortening the blouse 4" (I found it longer than the drawing suggests) but otherwise made no other changes. I will probably make it again this fall in a cozy flannel. Wouldn't it be great? But right now I'll enjoy my new sunny blouse.