McCalls 4530 Ren Fest adaptation

Mitch's Renaissance Festival tunic is hot off the machine, leaving me with only the pants to go!!  Woo hoo, home stretch!

I realize that it looks a bit like a nightgown on the hanger...  I'll get a better/modeled pic once the pants are done.  For reference, here was my "inspiration piece".

I started out with McCalls 4530 as a basic shirt block.  I cut the front as one piece with center front on the fold, and a slightly lower neckline.  I lengthened the body to just above the knees and marked the slit in the front of the neckline, and up the the hip on the side seam.  I used the sleeves as-is, except for straightening out the lower edge to make a smooth hemline.  Obviously, I ignored cuffs, collar and front bands, as well as the various "western" yokes.

I bound the neckline with a self fabric bias strip, which I topstitched down.  It also did a nice job enclosing the scratchy trim edge.  The fabric is a homespun that I got at Hancock.  It was nice to work with generally, but a pain to make into bias tape, as it tended to curl.

As a result, the sleeve seams are bound with commercial bias tape.  I did make nice french seams throughout, which look good, are sturdy and also serve to enclose the trim edges on the sleeves.

I also enclosed all of the hems and trimmed section of the neckline within the trim itself.  As a result, there is not a single exposed fabric edge anywhere in this shirt.  I realize that this is just a costume, but Ren Fest gear gets worn more than once around here, at least for the grown-ups, so I wanted this to be well made.