September 2015 – notes from a mad housewife

I’ve made several Tiny Pocket Tanks over the years and I wear them all the time in the spring, summer, and fall—definitely a wardrobe staple for me. I’ve always sewed it up in rayon challis, so when I spotted this great designer silk crepe de chine I decided to make a slightly more luxe version. I guess I was a little gun shy about cutting into this fabric since it sat in my stash for a few months. It’s not that I haven’t worked with floaty silks before, but you know how it is—must not ruin the pretty fabric!

shorts are my favorite thurlows

I had a good think about how I was going to finish the neckline and armholes and in the end, decided to draft an all-in-one facing for a nice clean finish. I made sure to trim about 1/16″ off the facing at the neckline and armholes to ensure that it stays neatly tucked to the inside. It’s amazing what a difference it makes when I remember to do that! Between that and tacking the facing down at the side seams, the facing feels super secure with no risk of it flipping out.

I usually do that little trick where you sew the neckline and armholes completely by machine, but sometimes I feel like pulling the top out through the straps makes for unnecessary manhandling of the fabric. For this reason, I decided to go a different route, which includes hand sewing part of the straps to the facing. Hard to explain, but it felt more appropriate for this delicate fabric. Then I french seamed the side seams, and machine stitched the hem.

Tiny Pocket Tank

Since I’ve made this pattern so many times (though not much blog documentation—sorry!), I’ve been tweaking the fit as I go. I’m pretty close to perfect, however the top still seems to pull to the back. It’s almost as if the front straps are just too long, which may be partially due to some of the alterations I’ve made to the pattern. Grainline junkie though I am, this tank has been a real mind bender to fit properly! I’ve done a SBA, raised the bust dart, raised the neckline, and opened up a wedge into the neckline to adjust the angle of the strap at the shoulder seam. I’m sure I’ll continue to tweak this pattern, but in the meantime, all my iterations are perfectly wearable.