Before DownEast’s wonder camisoles, I never found a tank that fit me modestly and was LONG enough. But now I am pregnant, and growing out of the 4 I have. They carry maternity sizes, but I am not willing to pay full price for their maternity tanks – and they have yet to put them on sale like their other ones. So I decided to try to make my own. My friend, Alyssa also desired to try making tank tops, ’cause she, too wants a more modest tank, but the DownEast onces are too long in the waist for her.
So we got together and put our minds to copying our favorite aspects of the various tanks that we liked – I layered three tanks on top of each other to get a ‘pattern’ – one was the length I wanted, one had the straps I wanted, and the other was a maternity one that had the width I needed. 🙂 The end result was pretty close to perfect, fit-wise. Then I had to figure out how to finish the edges without stretching the fabric too much.
So we got together and put our minds to copying our favorite aspects of the various tanks that we liked – I layered three tanks on top of each other to get a ‘pattern’ – one was the length I wanted, one had the straps I wanted, and the other was a maternity one that had the width I needed. 🙂 The end result was pretty close to perfect, fit-wise. Then I had to figure out how to finish the edges without stretching the fabric too much.
The serger helped, of course, and Alyssa had the idea to lower the feed dogs on the sewing machine, and that worked well. Some of the neck edge is a bit stretched out, but I have plans to keep trying with the other two cuts of fabric I bought, and will let you know how it goes! It was so quick and easy to make, I told Alyssa I should make these more often as it would be good for my ego! 🙂
Has anyone else sewed knit fabrics with success? Any hints would be appreciated!
Have you ever tried working with fold-over elastic? I just finished the neckline on a jersey dress with it, and it worked so well, and was so inexpensive! I learned about FOE (which is apparently what it is called by many sewists) from this blog post:http://angrychicken.typepad.com/angry_chicken/2008/04/omg-foe-is-my-n.htmlI think the same site has a later post about using FOE for finishing knits. Anyway, just thought I would pass that along. By the way, I found your blog from the Sensibility website, just so you don’t think I’m a creepy stalker!
That is so cool! I have never thought about sewing my own before!
what can I say – it is an obsession! 😛
You’re sewing projects amaze me! I still have Em’s sewing machine and pattern sitting on my table to make purses!!