Thrifted Tank Top

It's been really hot some days. I mean like 40degrees (104F) hot.

It's like stepping into an oven. The other day it reached it's hottest in history, a sweltering 46degree celcius (114F) in some place furthest from the sea, west. Needless to say, we stayed inside and I sewed. I ignored the cleaning and I sewed!!! It felt really, really good.

 

I had this size 14 shirt in my stash and I really didn't want to throw it out. I knew I could make something pretty cool from it. It was a nice beige/sandy coloured cotton shirt. So, I turned it into a tank top. I only have two other tanks in my wardrobe and I dislike wearing those tight fitting ones too much. They're kinda unflattering. I'd come across a thrifty tutorial on converting a shirt into a tank. So simple but yeah, it was time consuming as I still had to handle the kids.

 

I laid the shirt out and placed my only other pink tank top over it. Since they weren't that different in size I decided to keep the bottom and only cut out a neckline and arm holes and keeping the shoulders intact.

 I also used the sleeves to make my own binding so I could a binding like this tutorial on Plain Facing. I decided to make single fold binding and I cut out just over 1inch strips, (3.2cms to be exact). I put them through the bias tape maker (after wondering where in the world I stored them), ironed my bias strips and happily started to pin the binding on. The neckline was pretty easy but I found the armholes much harder and had to rip out my stitches a few times.

This is a close-up of the binding. It's about 1.1cm wide. If you used a 12mm already made binding that would be the perfect size. Plus you don't have the hassle of making your own binding if you are time poor or impatient like I usually am.

 I'm quite happy with the result though. I just realised afterwards that I may have still been using my quilting needle instead of a regular cotton needle or universal needle which would have helped me sew the binding on better. Oooops. Better results next time I suppose. I also need to fix that gaping issue. I'm wearing a t-shirt bra and it's making me rather, ummm perky. I wish they had bras that weren't so padded.

 This is the back view of the tank top and below the front half.

I'm hoping to be able to make up a few more of these so I can wear them to work on really scorching hot days. I could even pop a nice cardi over them if it was cooler. I'm so excited. I don't have any other spare shirts but maybe I'll try to make my own tanks.

In other sewing news I finally decided to jump on the Wiksten Tova bandwagon and downloaded the printable pattern. It's just $10 and I hope I can make a few of those as we slowly approach Autumn/Winter.

Now I am quietly waiting for some other fabric mail. It was kinda of a consolation buy as I just had news that my sister has been diagnosed with AML; a type of Leukaemia. Thankfully it is mild and she will start chemo on Monday and we'll be all supporting her as we did with my nephew who just finished his hospital doses and is now on tablet form. I think we have to have these kind of struggles to keep us closer to God and together as a family. 

Wishing you all happy and healthy vibes for this year!