I came across about a quarter of a yard of chartreuse satin and a pair of base layer pants that Johnny had worn a fairly sizable hole through.
I grabbed the chartreuse and my ever present box of strait pins and returned to our table in the coffee shop for some serious brainstorming. Almost immediately I started playing around with the idea of pleats.
Ever since I was little I've had an attraction to pleats. It started with a sewing competition called Make It Yourself With Wool. If you entered you automatically received a few yards of lovely Pendleton wool and the year before I had chosen a plaid with reds, beige and blues. As a nine year old the only thing I could think of to sew with plaid wool was a kilt. So a kilt it would be. I remember sewing a panel of pleats into the front of my kilt and tearing it out a number of times until I got all of the plaids to line up perfectly. It took forever! But In the end I had a spectacular pleat panel! I was beyond elated and later nearly cried when the judge asked incredulously how much my mom had sewn, not believing that a person my age could sew such perfectly matched pleats. Humph....
As I started the pleats for this project I didn't have anything fancy like a measuring table or a pleating board so I used my mini membership cards on my key chain to make even folds. Haha hey, you've got to use what you have.
When we got to our hotel later I sewed the pleats into place and started playing with garment construction ideas. I had the option of using a nice floral linen or the pants with the holes and opted for the pants, they are super soft and the fabric drapes nicely!
I put the satin aside for a minute and cut the pants apart into usable pieces.
Next I sewed a long triangular panel into the back of the shirt sandwiched between two pieces of black fabric. I had seen a girl riding her bike once with a similar panel in her shirt and had been waiting to try it out. I also cut out a deep armhole and high neckline into the back.
After I finished the back I sewed the front in a kind of strange order. First I sewed on a black panel to make up the lower front of the shirt. Then I attached the pleated panel to the top of that piece unto which I then added straps. Finally I cut out and attatched two triangular pieces to attach the top of the sides to the back
The next day I was taking my sewing machine and a pile of other things out to the van. It was pouring rain and I was trying not to get drenched but in the rush my pin box fell in the parking lot and pins flew everywhere. Fail! I proceeded to put my stuff in the car, dreading picking up all of the pins in the rain. Suddenly a rare flash of brilliance hit me. I grabbed my iPad 2, pulled off the case and ran back to the pins. I used the magnetic sides of the iPad and the case to sweep over the area where the pins fell and watched in happy amazement as all the pins attached themselves the the magnet! Success! Bummer part was Johnny wasn't even around to witness my superior problem solving skills, however I took great joy in smugly relating the story to him a few minutes later.
I finished the tank off by turning under the edges and neckline to create a finished look.
I ended up with an entirely unique, slightly dressy tank to be worn alone or layered.
Happy Memorial Day!
