A lil tank blooms into a willow

Off to the seaside I was last weekend and I wanted to make an aptly sewn top to match the event. It was supposed to be hot (so it typically rained for the whole day) . But as with all things I was short on time , so needed something that will only take a few hours.

I picked the tiny pocket tank from Grainline Studios, now before I start on this, I will say that this pattern has now been discontinued and replaced with the Willow top & dress pattern. But for all purposes, this is about the tiny pocket tank so things may have been improved/ updated for the Willow.

I paired it up with Tossed Anchors by Dear Stella. It was hard to choose as we have quite a few different nautical themed fabrics but as this pattern has darts I was conscious of the impact of putting in a dart into a heavy patterned fabric.  I only say this because it was my first time putting in a dart, (yeah, I know- not sure why that took so long) and I really didn't want obvious pattern mash.

These patterns normally accommodate for a B cup, I'm much larger than that- but i'm too afraid to start extending cups and busts, so haven't, I just measured my bust and went from there, which for me worked out fine. ..well not really. More on that in a bit.

This is a super easy pattern, there is only 3 pieces to sew and the construction is almost identical to the Scout tee (but the scout doesn't have any darts). So I knew I had to be careful with my bias binding, but the rest of it was going to be a breeze. Inserting all the armhole bias binding went fine...but I did overstretch it a bit in the neckline..pain!

I still haven't settled on my favourite way to finish off seams, so I had wished I had finished with french seams but I made that decision too late, zig zag it was.

Back to the bust, I've got a bit of a bust, but also a short chest.  With other tops I have made I haven't made any adjustments and this hasn't been much of an issue, but with this one it was. I stupidly didn't think about my short chest (gotta stop sewing in a rush)  so once it was finished it was way too long in the front with  too much boobage on show for my liking as well as really gapey at the back, it sat like something my aunt would wear.

 It was too late for me to do any proper adjustments, so all I could do was what I do with most shop bought tops I buy, I hemmed up the seams at the top (I normally stick them in my bra). This wasn't ideal as they came in at an angle and now my armpits were tight and rubbing. I lowered it a bit and came to a compromise in top and bottom. 

I don't think it's too obvious but next time I make one I'll definitely have to adjust the top half to make it shorter (there's a new thing to learn!) but I threw a blazer over the top and it looked great. It all held together on the rollercoasters and in the non stop rain (I have a cold now boo hoo). I'll tackle the Willow in it's dress form next but I think I'll go for one of our soft chambrays  like the union...although in the bound would be amazing.... 

OK, pocket is a bit square too....

smells like Geraniums

Last week we got our first kids pattern in, yay! I find a lot of children's dress patterns a bit frumpy, a bit ruffled and a bit over the top. The Geranium by Made By Rae patterns is none of that. it's basically the Washi dress in kids version. (and without the elastic shirring!) You could have a matching set if you felt inclined. Beauty of this is you can use so many different fabric's, i love patterns where you can use medium weight quilting cotton- it just opens up the scope of possibility. 

There is 2 different versions in this pattern, it can be made into either a dress or top with three different sleeves versions and three different neckline and the option to make it ruffled or pleated.

I opted for faux capped sleeve. basic neckline and a ruffled skirt , mainly because I've done much gathering and never pleated before and the ruffled sleeves looked a bit beyond my easy, quick Saturday morning frame of mind- and pocket version.everything has to have pockets!

I've made up the biggest size, which is a 5 but it is on the smaller size (I was making it for my skinny minnie) so may need to add extra to the top bodice if need be. I used a meter and a half of the Cats heads in blue by Wee Wander Gallery, the good thing about this fabric is the heads are small enough that I didn't stress out too much about pattern matching. I can be lazy with stuff like that. 

The construction is straight forward, As usual I used the Swedish tracing paper to begin with (used on the GBSB didn't you know) The rest was a breeze, unless you count when I read the pattern wrong and closed the wrong bit of the bodice - (then lost the seam ripper for a full 20 minutes- That made me loose it). Obviously I'm an impatient person and I only ever skim pattern instructions- always resulting in unpicking, (I NEVER learn).

The funny thing about this dress is I thought it wasn't looking great through most of the sew, I thought it was looking a bit bulky and not quite right, but once I pressed it and held it up- as if by magic- it looked fab. Even inserting the buttons gave me no grief. I wanted to put in cute little pencil buttons but they protruded and it's not really the type of dress for that, plus it would just get tangled in hair.

Happy with that, There is a size 6-12 year old version available, I'm trying to get my hands on it locally (and not importing it from the U.S), So hopefully it will appear on our pattern page soon.

Other shop news.....

Tula Pink announced last week that there will be 3 new additions to her Hardware range, and we are now taking pre orders for these! They are due for release in July- so not too long now. Available will be a pair of 6" scissors, a pair of 4" micro cute scissors and left handed shears.

For all pre order information click on the images below! I'll write a more detailed entry when the stock arrives.