A Triple Take of the Double Take Tank

I wasn't kidding two weeks ago when I said certain shades of green were practically neutrals in my wardrobe. A couple weeks ago I made myself 3 new tank tops, and without even trying, only using fabrics in my stash, all 3 go perfectly with the green skirts, shorts, and pants in my wardrobe.

I've enjoyed sewing up (and wearing!) the Winter Wear Designs patterns for blog tours this year, so when Suzanne put out a testing call for a new woven tank top pattern, I decided why not? I like her patterns and can always use more tank tops in my wardrobe. Plus, as sleeveless tops don't require much material, I had plenty of fabric in my stash I could use for the project.

For the first tank top from this pattern I dug into my stash of "recently used, but not completely used up" fabrics, and selected a remnant of floral polyester left over from making this dress.

I was a little short on fabric, so I had to cut the back out as two separate pieces, rather than 1 on the fold. Thus, this first tank got a center back seam, but, with the busy pattern, it's not too noticeable.

The pattern includes 3 hem options; short, regular,
and shirt tail. I really wanted to make the shirt tail option, but, due to my fabric shortage, that wasn't possible, so I just did the plain old regular hem option instead. It's still slightly longer in the back than the front, just not dramatically so.

As with most WWD patterns I made a size M, graded to a S waist, then back to a M at the hips. I was very pleased with the fit of this sizing combination, so I repeated it with my next two tops.

For the second tank I reached into my stash of "garments to be refashioned" and came up with a rayon crepe, elastic waist, floral skirt. The fabric had a fantastic drape and the floral pattern reminded me of 18th century fabrics.

Unfortunately, I forgot to take a before picture of the skirt, so you'll just have to imagine what it looked like before the refashion. Think 90's church lady skirt. The front of the skirt was one solid panel, so that became the front of my tank top.

The back of the skirt had a center back seam, so the back of my top does as well, since neither back panel was wide enough on its own to become the full back of the tank top pattern.

There wasn't a ton of fabric in the skirt, so I opted to cut the shortest hem length included in the pattern, making this tank about 2" shorter than my first.

Along with 3 different hem options, this pattern also includes two different back options. It can be made up as a racerback, or with a scooped back neckline. I like both options, and fully intended to make both, but instead, I wound up making 3 racer backs - don't ask me why.

For my third tank top I pulled fabric from my "I bought this fabric because I liked it and it was a good deal" stash - a black polyester "chiffon" with a large rainbow butterfly pattern. (The bolt called it a chiffon, but it's really more like a very lightweight satin)

I had nearly two yards of this 60" wide fabric sitting in my stash, so I had more than enough to make a tank top with the shirt tail hem option and no center back seam!

All three tank tops got made, photographed, then promptly packed for vacation! Along with my aforementioned green skirt, shorts, and (yet to be blogged) pants.

The black tank has been worn with my green pants for tours of mammoth caves.

The rayon crepe tank has been worn with my green skirt while visiting museums and a historical farm in the smoky mountains.

The original dusty blue floral tank has also been worn with the green skirt - this time for visiting waterfalls!

Butterflies were abundant all around the waterfalls!

So, just in case you were wondering- green really is practically a neutral color in my wardrobe and tank tops are staples. You can expect both the color green and this tank top pattern to make future appearances on my blog!

This fabulous woven top pattern, the Double Take Tank, can be found here!

*I received this pattern for free in exchange for testing, but all thoughts and opinions are my own and I really do plan to make it again and again!

Plain, But With a Touch of Gold

I suppose I just wasn't making her clothes fast enough. A few months ago my sister took it upon herself to make some summer skirts. Pretty, comfy, colorful, easy to make, easy to wear, elastic waist skirts.

Over a three day period she made several of these skirts for herself, in all different colors and prints - blue, green, yellow, pink, and brown, polka dots, swirls, and florals.

She enjoyed making all of them, and loved all the fabrics she used for her project, but her favorite of all the skirts was a golden yellow one printed with a wave like design.

She declared the fabric reminded her of Asia, and she wanted to wear this skirt to her Mulan theater camp auditions. She just needed the perfect cream colored blouse to go with it. 

That's where I came in. My sister hatched her plan and brought me her request. A very plain, cream colored, sleeveless blouse. She wanted the print of her skirt to shine, and the best way to do that was to make the blouse as plain as possible.

I agreed to her plan, with the stipulation that she would give me a little bit of artistic freedom. Let me add a few little details to this garment! After all, plain, detailess, monochrome garments aren't the most fun thing to make! My sister grudgingly agreed, picked out a remnant of plain cream cotton muslin at Joann's, and let me get to work.

  The blouse request came the week after I'd finished testing the Maria Blouse, and the pattern was still out on my sewing table. As it was a blouse pattern, that fit my sister well, I decided to use it for my base. This time I would make the plain shirt body version, rather than the peplum version, of the pattern.

To make this blouse as plain as possible, I omitted the front buttons. My sister didn't want buttons. Instead, I sewed up the center front with one solid seam.

For a bit of subtle detail I added metallic gold top stitching on either side of that center front seam. My sister was unsure of the topstitching at first, as she was afraid shiney gold would detract from the skirt the blouse was to be paired with. However, once it was done, she agreed I'd made a good decision.

Since the blouse didn't button in the front, it needed some sort of back closure so it could actually be worn. The neck hole on it's own would be too small to fit over a head! Thus, I cut the back as two seperate pieces, rather than one on the fold. I sewed up the center back and left the top three or so inches open. I added a button and loop at the neckline, and there you go, a back keyhole opening, allowing the blouse to be easily put on and taken off.

Of course, I added metallic gold top stitching to the center back seam to match the front, and my sister didn't complain.

I left off the sleeves entirely, and insead finished the armholes with bias tape. Finally, for one last little detail, I persuaded my sister to let me add a peter pan collar to her pretty plain cream blouse. I topstitched around the edge of the collar with gold to match the center front and back. My sister didn't seem to mind.

She got her cream blouse. I got my fun little details. And at the end of the day, it was the perfect blouse to pair with her golden yellow skirt.

Just enough detail to be pretty, but it doesn't detract from from the lovely print of her skirt at all! I'd say, between my sister and I, we managed to make a pretty great outfit.

1940's Style Everyday Wear - The Casey Skirt and Brooks Blouse

It was the map dress that got me interested in 1940’s fashion. Prior to that project, my only real interest in vintage fashion was the fun, poofy, full skirted, dresses of the 1950’s. Then, I read about dresses made from old army maps at the end of the 40’s. These dresses intrigued me. So, I bought some map fabric and a re-printed 1940s pattern, and decided to make my own map dress. This drew me into observing 1940s fashion, and I fell in love with all the little details that make up the clothes of the 40’s! The shirring, pleats, tucks, darts, and draping are things to be admired. It was an era of rationed fabrics, so the tailored details make the clothing memorable rather than exaggerated silhouettes.

Once I returned home from the world race and a year of wearing my map dress around the world, I was eager to try my hand at making other 40’s style garments. Thus, I made myself and my mom each a dress, while my little sister got a dress, a hooded blouse, and a pair of overalls - all from 40’s re-print patterns.

In June I had the opportunity to test a 1940’s style skirt pattern for Brigid Everson, the designer behind Brijee Patterns. I've followed her blog since last year and appreciated her style, so I was excited to try out one of her patterns! This skirt was a little more everyday wear and a little less attention grabbing dress than my other 40’s style projects, so I figured it would definitely have a place in my wardrobe!

Thus, I decided to test the Casey Skirt pattern. I found some polyester suiting in the perfect shade of green and was ready to get started! As I mentioned before, the skirt is a little more basic than my previous dresses, but that doesn't mean it's short on fun eye catching details! In fact, when I decided to make this skirt I was actually worried that one of the details might be a little too eye catching.

The pockets! Oh the amazingly large patch pockets! I was afraid they might be too much, a little too large and visible. I considered leaving them off my skirt all together and adding my own inseam pockets instead. But pockets.

I really love nice large pockets in my clothes. And I really, really, appreciate it when designers actually decide to include such pockets in their patterns. Thus, I made my Casey Skirt with the pockets. And I don't regret it. Not one bit. Yes, they are eye catching, but every single comment I've had about this skirt has been positive, especially regarding the pockets. I don't think they're too much at all. No, I think these pockets are just right for this skirt. They perfectly balance out the single inverted box pleats on the center front and back of the skirt.

Neither detail overwhelms the other, which leads to a lovely, well rounded, final garment. A garment that pairs nicely with an awful lot of other things in my wardrobe.

It turns out, the particular shade of green I used for my skirt is practically a neutral color for me. I've worn this skirt with all sorts of tank tops and blouses I already had hanging in my wardrobe. I didn't need to make any blouses to go with it. Yet, I couldn't resist when Brigid requested testers for the 40’s inspired blouse pattern she’d designed to go with the Casey Skirt. I wanted to make the complete set!

I love the way this next pattern, the Brooks Blouse, is shaped with inverted pleats at the waist - two in the front and two in the back.

The blouse is perfectly designed to be tucked into the skirt, and still look good worn untucked with jeans and shorts as well.

The fabric suggestions mentioned the blouse could be made from both woven and knit fabrics. Being the practical person I am, I decided I might as well try this concept out by making two blouses, one from a knit with a crepe-like texture, and one from a woven rayon challis. After all, it couldn't hurt to make myself two new blouses, and comparing the results from each type of fabric might help the designer out.

First, I made the knit blouse. As no closures were needed (because knit stretches, it's awesome like that), this blouse was a rather quick sew. Typically I sew knit garments on my serger, but with this blouse I used my regular sewing machine, because I was just too lazy to re-thread my serger that day. The knit I used was relatively stable and very easy to sew on a regular machine.

I found the fabric at Joann's for 60% off, and with this pattern in mind, I couldn't resist picking up a bit. It has a really cool crepe like texture and I knew the colors would coordinate perfectly with my skirt.  

So, I made my blouse one morning and wasn't disappointed at all with how the blouse paired with the skirt! Honestly, my only complaint at all about the knit version of the Brooks Blouse is that I feel the neckline is too high, but that's something I can easily fix on this blouse and do differently on any other knit blouses I make from this pattern.

Now the woven blouse doesn't have that problem. Even though I used the exact same pattern pieces for both the knit and woven blouse the woven blouse neckline came out at the perfect height. See, the woven blouse neckline is finished with a facing, while the knit neckline is finished with a neckband. The neckband on the knit blouse adds height to the finished neckline, while the facing adds no height. Next time I make the knit blouse, I'll cut down the neckline a bit prior to adding the neck band so the neckline will match that on the woven blouse.

I made the woven blouse a few days after the knit blouse, and it was really fun to compare the two. While I love how easy the knit version is to wear (and I've worn it plenty since completion), I think the woven version is actually my favorite.

I used a rayon challis remnant I had on hand for the woven blouse and it has a beautiful drape, very well suited for this pattern.

The drape of the fabric gives this blouse a softer, more fluid silhouette than the knit blouse. Which is why I prefer the look of this blouse. Also, I appreciate the extra detail the woven blouse requires.

Buttons! A row of pretty buttons marching down the center back of the blouse. I just love the aesthetic of buttons down the back of a garment!

Especially when those center back buttons line up perfectly with a center back pleat! 

I quite like this collection of three 1940's inspired garments I made! These patterns are well drafted, easy to use, and were a pleasure to test. If you want to make these patterns for yourself, all the Brijee patterns can be found here!

I received the patterns for free in exchange for testing and giving my feedback on them, but all thoughts and opinions in this post are my own :)