top: self-drafted // bra: blogged here // sweater: Modcloth // pants: Jamie Jeans
Since it’s almost Christmas, this seems like a great time to share more of my summer wardrobe Here are two more of those luscious drapey tanks.
I wore them both pretty much all summer with shorts so it’s nice to be able to throw a sweater on top and call it a fall outfit. Or maybe this only works in California.
Happy almost Christmas!
top/skirt/bra: self-drafted
This summer I was planning my Plymouth trip wardrobe and somehow stumbled upon the perfect summer lake house tank top. Whenever we’ve gone there in warm weather I’ve basically lived in a swim suit, maybe a pair of shorts. I wanted something I could throw over a swim suit that would still look cute and could be dressed up. I also wanted something cute and low-cut in the back to wear with all the strappy bras I experimented with this summer. (I’ll do a separate post on those.)
I basically just traced the neckline of a tank top that I like the fit of, and then added triangle wedges to it starting at the underarm to add the drape. Then I made long strips of bias tape for the straps and also used some to enclose the neckline edge.
These were so quick and easy to make that I actually ended up cranking out three of them in a day and a half. It didn’t take very much fabric either, so I was able to use up some pretty fabric scraps I didn’t have plans for. This one is a black rayon challis and I did French seams on the inside. I tried one serging another one and that worked just as well.
I have a lot of chiffon/rayon challis/other floaty fabric scraps lying around so I may have to make an army of these. I have visions of my wardrobe morphing into ten of these tanks for the summer and ten Archers for the winter.
In other news, Happy Thanksgiving to my American sewing friends! I can’t wait to eat my weight in stuffing.
top: Archer shirt // pants: Jamie Jeans // shoes: Shellys London
I’ve made a lot of Archers. I think the official count is at eight at the moment. I feel like I say this every time I make a new one, but I always mean it: this is my new favorite one! Or at least it’s a three-way tie for first place (the red/blue plaid one and the dotted one get worn a ton).
One of my goals this year has been to be more careful and precise with my sewing. For this project I slowed myself down and was extra careful and ironed after every seam. Usually I get far too impatient and rush through things and then it shows (to me, at least), so this time I wanted to do everything right. (Especially since I finally gave into my Cotton and Steel obsession during a particularly awesome Craftsy sale.) In the end it took me about as long to do this one as the others because I didn’t have any seams to rip out. And it’s SO NEAT. I may have danced a little when I finished. And then wore it for three straight days. I also made a pretty little tag for the inside. I just used some twill tape and the only font function on my ancient Bernina to spell out Peneloping. Easy peasy.
The buttons were a complete fluke. I’d picked them up at a discount fabric store ages ago with no plan in mind because they were pale mint and adorable. It wasn’t until I was nearly done with this shirt and realized the background color was just minty enough that white buttons wouldn’t work that I found these buttons again. They’re a tad smaller than I normally use but I still haven’t gotten over how perfect the color is so I’m happy.
Fit-wise, I changed things up a bit. Before this one I’ve always sewn a size 2 for extra swingy-ness and added an extra 2″ to the length for butt coverage so I could wear them with leggings. I decided I wanted this one a little more fitted so I traced a size 0 and didn’t add the extra length. LOVE. I also sliced off about 3/8″ of the shoulder because I noticed previous ones hang off my shoulders a bit. I don’t mind so much if it’s a giant flannel shirt but this helped with the more fitted look.
I have five more fabrics waiting to be made into Archers (I know.. I told you I was obsessed.) and I’m having trouble deciding which fit I like better. Since they’re all flannels I might do a few of each so I can have my buffet-dinner Archers and my fancy-fall-outfit Archers. I’ve even infected my sister, who has requested two plaid flannel Archers for Christmas. Let’s hope non-sewing sisters can appreciate plaid matching skills.
-pointed stare-
1: top: Linden sweatshirt // shorts: American Eagle
2: top: Linden sweatshirt // pants: Jamie Jeans
Check out my review of the Linden over at the Dress Up Party!
In other news, I’ve been a bit of a Jamie Jeans factory lately. I realized that I’ve had exactly two pairs of jeans for the past year (or however long it’s been since I discovered I could make jeans and got rid of all my RTW pants) and that this is probably problematic. I made these a few weeks ago as a summery pair and I’ve been wearing the crap out of them. I used an 11oz denim with a tiny bit of stretch from Fabric.com.
These were almost a disaster. I forgot that I hadn’t thrown the fabric in the dryer when I pre-washed, and accidentally machine dried them after washing the sewn jeans for the first time. Suddenly tiiiny pants. Luckily I had had to take them in on the sides so my seam allowances were more than 3/8″ so I was able to take out the seams a bit and now they fit great! I also shortened them to more of an ankle length and they’re great with sandals and summery shoes.
Now I should probably invest in some summery shoes.
dress: self-made, pattern here // shoes: Seychelles
*The fabric for this project was provided by Funki Fabrics and all opinions, anecdotes, and messy hand-stitching are my own.
I feel like a lot of my project posts start off as “So Katie from Skunkboy posted this awesome outfit and I ran off and copied it.” This is not dissimilar from those. At least it’s not Dear Creatures for the umpteenth time!
This dress was inspired by a Black Swan dress that I decided needed to be made in navy velvet with black mesh detailing. Funki Fabrics had just reached out to me about doing a collaboration and their navy stretch velvet sample was everything I was looking for for this project.
I started off with a lady skater and didn’t change too much. I omitted the neckband and arm bands to start. I also hacked off about 1″ from the bodice and 1/2″ from the top of the skirt. I cut a 1.5″ rectangle of black stretch net and sewed it between the bodice and skirt, and then top-stitched to keep it in place. Easy peasy. For the diamond cutouts, I drew up the shape I wanted, cut it out of the dress, and sewed mesh bits in by hand. They’re a bit messier than I would have liked; sadly my Bernina is sick and I’ve been using the back-up Brother which is just not up to working with difficult fabrics.
I think if I were to do this project again I would either leave out the diamond mesh cutouts or use a more stable knit. Or you know, have a decent working sewing machine. Hah.