Look Ma...No Hem!

Remember last week I introduced you to the new Waterfall Jacket Fashion Leaflet?  I had plenty of fabric to sew a coordinating tank top to go with it.

The fabric was really interesting as you could use either the right or the wrong side as the finished right side.

 

And the selvage?  Well...it was like a mini-fringe.  It was so interesting that I decided to use it as the hem of the tank top as well as on the diagonal decorative seam.

When laying out the pattern, it meant that the straight of grain line would be PERPENDICULAR to the selvage, not parallel as in a traditional layout.  And I added the diagonal seam going from the right armhole to the lower left side seam.  I wanted the pattern to meet at basically a 45 degree angle when the diagonal seam was sewn.  And yes, I laid the upper bodice over the lower front bodice rather than sewing a traditional seam where right sides are together.  I wanted that fringy selvage to be the decorative element on the front of the tank.

This design was fraught with a few challenges, as when the pattern was laid on perpendicular to the selvage, I discovered that it was not knit on the straight of grain so to speak.  It was knit crooked.  This next photo shows that with the selvages edges together, the fold it created was not totally on grain. 

This meant that the back of the tank hangs a little wonky, but I was willing to live with that so that I could use the fringy selvage at the hem line.

For the bust dart, I simply left it in its original side seam position.  If you want, you could transfer it to the lower side seam but I didn't want it to conflict with the decorative diagonal front seam.

Lastly, I trimmed the neckline and armholes with bias binding cut from the same stretchy fabric, but used the wrong side as the outside for emphasis.

All up, it turned out great.  The General Tank Top directions are basically all that's needed to design this tank from your Sure-Fit Designs Dress Kit.  If you don't already have them, please CLICK HERE.

In case you missed last week's blog on the new downloadable Waterfall Jacket Fashion Leaflet, here's what it looks like with this coordinating tank top underneath.

This tank top is definitely a 'Made in a Day' project.
Enjoy!