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The Little Tank that Could

June 8, 2013 Comments

my perfect silk tank

Hoo-ah, this week Austin was really heating up! Seems like about this time every year I come up with gads of strategies to keep me cool and feeling healthy and refreshed (#1: must drink more water). Usually by the end of July I start feeling pickled and strategize all over again. The last three summers I’ve been a bit obsessed with finding the perfect tank top pattern. I really love drapey tank tops and especially woven ones in silk.

Coming up with a perfect tank is a bit like trying to define the perfect t-shirt. I’ve made several different patterns and clearly obsessed about this a bit, but was never completely happy with the fit or style of my previous attempts. My perfect has somewhat narrow straps, a narrow neckline, and a slight racer back. It’s a little bit slouchy and drapes softly just around my hips. This time, I drafted one using my own bodice sloper, something I finally got around to fitting over the winter.

floral silk tank

And I think I finally got there! Sometimes the long road is the better one. Drafting my own block taught me some great things about my body lengths and widths and has really been helping me to fit myself better. For example, I’ve used it to adjust my bust length and fullness on this Style Arc shift dress and this Vogue top. I finally feel like fitting myself is starting to click!

Please excuse my rumpled appearance. I’m having a bad hair month (I’m growing out my bangs–argh) and this outfit has been through two hot and busy days (I wore this outfit twice, don’t tell anyone!).

me and my rumpled tank

silk tank back

This is a silk crepe I bought almost four years ago from Tessuti. I had it in mind for a sleeveless top back then but feared cutting into it because I just didn’t have the pattern right. And now I do. The print looks like paint splatters but these are actually large pop art flowers that seem to jump out of black negative space. I wish I had more for a drapey maxi dress–because that would really show off their scale.

My favorite, favorite finish for these kind of tanks is an all-in-one neck and armhole facing.

all-in-one-facing

It looks so clean and pretty and turns out miles better than my bias bound finishes. And my favorite tutorial for sewing (and drafting) an all-in-one facing is by Sherry at Pattern Scissors Cloth. She hasn’t been active on her blog for awhile, but don’t go missing out on a goldmine of tips from a patternmaker!

silk-tank-baby-hem

Speaking of which, I’m also a big fan of her method for rolled (aka handkerchief aka baby) hems. My mom asked me about rolled hems recently, so I thought I’d mention my favorite! I think this method is quite easy and ends up less wonky-looking than using a rolled hem foot especially on those evil bias hems, and with every top my hems are getting better and better looking. Alternatively, Jen at Grainline published a roll-hem method which involves sewing a line that you can follow as you roll, until you get used to rolling by eye and learning how to keep slippery fabric from unrolling. (My tip: wet your fingers, roll, stitch a few inches, repeat. It’s weird but it works!)

Details:
Floral silk crepe: Tessuti
Pattern: self-drafted
Earrings: Native Clutter (by Stephanie at Makes the Things – just had to mention because I love her jewelry!)
Jeans: old and much loved

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Golden Hour

February 8, 2013 Comments

feather print blouse, Vogue 1247

Time for something unrelated to lingerie projects! This past week was a gloriously lazy one. My better half was out of town for several days and told me to take some time off. I’m not the sort of person who gets nervous when there’s nothing to do, so I spent a massive part of those five days schlepping around in my bathrobe and keeping my laptop closed. No dogs no laundry no groceries and a lot of Netflix queue.

One of my few hikes out of the house was straight to Joann’s, precisely for this pattern, which I spent the weekend casually stitching here and there. This is the famous Rachel Comey “Navigator Top” that became a beloved sewing pattern, Vogue 1247. After seeing Sallie and Carolyn traipsing around in this beauty of a blouse I knew I had to have one myself. Wouldn’t you know it, I was in Joann’s the one time of year they weren’t having some mad coupon sale; I can’t remember the last time I bought one of these if ever at full price. But I just couldn’t wait…

And I was determined to finally cut into this beautiful feather print silk charmeuse I stashed away two years ago with no plans for it other than “billow-y summer top”.

feather-print-blouse2

And friends, we have not had a single day that’s felt like winter. The crickets are already singing. Today was 88, and the wind was perfect, the sun was perfect… so with just 45 minutes of light in the day to spare I leapt in the car to find the nearest open space to to take some photos–a neighborhood church parking lot. Nothing too exciting but it had a big wash of warm sunlight. Now I had 30 minutes left, and once I got out the tripod realized I forgot my remote!

So I called my husband. Honey? I have a huge favor to ask… could you pretty please bring my remote to me?

I should mention that he was out on his motorcycle during the riding equivalent of the golden hour. He was too sweet to do it but now I only had 10 minutes left. Which gave me about 30 photos, most of which turned into a slurry like this:

feather print blouse, Vogue 1247

(Ignore the unfolding cuffs. I like kind of loosey floppy blouses.)

Or this, which is what he often calls my “getting Detroit about it” face. (He was telling me I had an ugly truck in the background, making for “bad art”.)

feather print blouse, Vogue 1247

You get the picture. It’s going to be one of my favorite blouses! I love those radiating lines. This blouse is so loose that fit is sort of in the eye of the beholder, but I made a few adjustments to raise the bustline and take out some volume in that area. Sewing-wise, it was fairly easy going. Am I allowed to say I love sewing French seams? This pattern uses them for every seam, and even if it didn’t suggest them I would’ve gone for this finish–I can’t imagine any other seaming in such a lightweight silk. The hardest part is that tricksy intersection of four seams right below the waist. Or maybe the hardest part was that rolled hem. Sewing this one was akin to sewing on a roller coaster– a curvy shirttail hem in a slippery fabric. I’m half tempted to unpick and start all over. I just cannot abide crappy hems.

Oh, and I accidentally understitched the sleeve facing to the right side rather than the underside. Hmmm, all that lazy schlepping must have taken its toll. No one will notice but me. ♥

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