Bias Shirt Smock- Tutorial

Find the tutorial here. It's in PDF.

Feel free to post any finished objects (or even WIPs) to the flickr group here

Background: When I went to SAW this last year (I feel like a lot of my posts start out this way...) I used/wore a smock during my classes; I made the smock last year and briefly blogged about it here. I have found the smock to be incredibly useful and wear it when ever I'm crafting (especially with the kids, the pockets are like having another two pairs of hands).

Original smock, still in heavy use

Anyway, the lovely ladies at SAW gave me many compliments and asked if I had a tutorial for it. I spent most of this summer promising myself I would complete a tutorial by Labor Day. So, with 28 minutes to spare, I did! Last night at 11:32pm EST I sent the finished tutorial to the lovely MB who agreed to review it for me.

Back of the green smock, front of the purple smock.

My fabulous drawing of said smock. I'm sure will be worth millions (of pesos) one day

Thoughts on writing the tutorial: Writing my first tutorial was really difficult. I kept thinking "what would I want to know?" and tried to use that as a guide. However, I usually want to know too much too quickly. Therefore, I split it up into 3 sections: 1) overview/materials/supplies, 2) quick and dirty diagrams, 3) detail instructions.

Where possible I also tried to include both drawings and pictures of what was happening (example below, how to make a bias fabric trapezoid).

Hoping this doesn't look like a diagram of a football play

Basically, this is a real image of the drawing  above.

The two key things in this pattern/tutorial are using bias fabric and choosing a shirt you like but which also fits easily over your chest and shoulders without too much trouble. As you can see below, the shirt I used to make the latest smock has plenty of room around my rib cage.

Using a large shirt is preferable, just as long as it's not falling off...

I purposefully made this smock rather plain; rickrack can be your friend. 

 Also, something I don't go over in the tutorial is embellishment. I'm excited to see what people do with this simple design to make it their own.

The pocket fabric is one of Anna Maria Horner's; I have a girl crush on her, it's true.

I hope not only that you all make it but actually enjoy making it. Please let me know if you encounter any issues; I'd like to improve my tutorial writing abilities so don't hesitate to let me know if parts are unclear/need additional info.

Happy smocking! and special thanks to Maya for her encouragement.