Tank Top 2.0

This morning I tried something new. I went down to my studio and worked on sewing rather than letting myself get sucked into my computer. And I realized that just being in my studio can be inspiring and I got an amazing amount of work done.

I have a basket of "crap that needs to be delt with". Ok let's be honest this morning it was actually two baskets full. But now I am down to 1!

So far today I have:
- finished a pair of cargo pants for the kid
- but the drawstring back in a pair of my lounge pants
- taken in the waist in on my leopard print jeans
- taken in the back seam of a workout top
- totally re-worked a tank top I made about 5 years ago!

All this before noon! All the sudden the kid has a new pair of pants and I have 2 pairs of pants and 2 tops back in my wardrobe, crazy, I know!

So the deal with this tank top is that I LOVE the fabric but have never liked the style and fit.  It was in the basket-o-crap because I did not want to throw or give it away but I did not know what to do with it, until today.

Tank Top Before. Pulling across the chest and arm holes are too tight. 

I did not like the pleats in the front, and the armholes had gotten a little tight. Also there was a facing around the neck that was not put in right and it never stayed put!

The back before.  

 The back was not fitting quite right either. A little tight and what was I thinking with that giant button?

The armholes previously had bias tape facings. Cute but not much give, plus you know my arms some how must be a little bigger then when I first made this shirt.

I basically took the whole neckline, armholes and back seam apart. I took off the facings. For the armholes I simply turned them under and hemmed them. This gave me about 1/2 an inch larger openings for my arms. For the neck I needed a way to gather it that looked better than the pleats. So I turned it and hemmed it as well. Then I attached a piece of frilly elastic to gather the front.

Thank goodness for huge seam allowances, because of the standard 5/8" I was able to open up the back seam and give myself a little more wiggle room.

Sadly the back seam does not entirely match up. But you know what I pretty much never have to look at it so I am not going to sweat it. It is a casual shirt so I am going to let it go. At least now it is wearable.

Not so perfect back seam. 

After! Tank Top 2.0

See how much better it fits. The neckline is a little lower, which is more flattering, and it is not pulling across the chest like it was before. I have to say I am pretty happy I managed to salvage this top. I have always loved this fabric. Now if it would just quit raining and warm up then maybe I could wear it!

Hope you are good today!
Peace Out - C

Summer Skirts, Part 1

Summer is here! We pretty much skipped spring. So if you live in the south you know that you get about 3 days between when you turn off the heat and turn on the air conditioner. And they are the same three days where you have the heat on in the car in the morning and the AC on in the car in the afternoon.

I have had "make skirts for M" on my to do list since November. I made her one back in November when it was still oddly warm and then it got cold and I let them languish on the list for a few months.

Back in September she got a cute little maxi skirt at a store. And while I love it I realized that is so crazy easy I could totally make her one of those. So I did and now she has a total of 5, 3 of which I made yesterday.

Here is the first one.

Made in November hence the boots and sweatshirt. This skirt was well loved all winter and I think she even played in the snow with it on one day. 

The 2nd one I don't have a picture of. So here are some pictures of us shopping for fabric.

Look at all that fun elastic! 

Where's M?

I can't seem to find her!?

Fun Fur!

Ok back to skirts. So I took her store bought skirt and laid it out on a piece of fleece. I traced it and added a seam allowance to make the basic skirt pattern. I used fleece because I have a ton and it is cheep. But I like it for a simple pattern like this because it sticks to your fabric and you don't need pins. Since the fabric I was using to make the skirts is knit and is temperamental it was nice to have an easy to deal with pattern material.

M and I have much different taste. But if we have to pick something for each other we can always do it spot on. She loves wearing white. She looks great in it but then she runs and jumps and plays in the dirt. And well her white stuff turns playground worn fast.

Such is life! I like the giant butterflies with the smaller butterflies on top, but I would not have necessarily chosen this for myself, however I would choose it for her all day long.

Some people just have a style and a palette. I used to fight it and try and do something different or encourage her to do something different but I gave up that battle. You love what you love.

Someone once asked me "Isn't it exhausting to be that bold all the time?". My answer to this day is NO! It is just how I roll, and I would guess that M would say the same thing. I am proud of her for being bold and sticking to her guns even when I don't love what she picks. However you do have to stick to the butt and boobies covered rule! I do have some limits.

This is the pattern laid out on one of fashion fabrics that M picked.

This fabric is slick. I think it is a poly blend but is stretchy and fun and will be nice for our suddenly warm weather.

For this particular skirt I did a waistband. Basically I cut a strip of fabric and encased the elastic in the band. The elastic was 1.5 inches wide so I doubled it and added .5 inch on both sides for seam allowance, so you cut a 4 inch wide band, the length of the waist of the skit. Then I attached the band (with the elastic inside) to the body of the skirt.

I did this skirt on the serger but I did the other two on my good old regular sewing machine. I will explain in Summer Skirts part 2 how I sewed the different types of knits.

See how the waistband looks nice and finished. This is exactly how the store bought one looks.

I saw them again and was almost sucked in. Then I made myself go home and make them.

Funny thing is that the store bought cost and the homemade cost are almost exactly the same. But it is pretty fun to pick out your own fabrics and make it fit just right.

I have some plans to make some similar skirts for myself.

Speaking of which I would rather be sewing than typing. So Peace Out! For now....

Chrissy