This is my fourth time making it, which is nearly a record for me. It helps that they are so quick to knock out. I love instant gratification sewing.
This time, I decided to make the V-neck with long sleeves, out of a snuggly sweater knit that I scored at Walmart for a dollar a yard. It's insanely soft stuff, but also seriously unstable and a royal PITA to sew.
The drapey, unstable nature of the knit is what makes this sweater so cozy though so I think it was worth the pain and agony. In terms of alterations, the only thing I did was my usual cheater FBA on the front bodice and sleeve. The back was already traced from my prior Renfrews, so that saved some time.
Peek a boo!! Unfortunately, the loose knit that makes it so soft and drapey, also makes it totally see through, so I needed an additional layer for underneath. Since the 02/2007 copy of Ottobre happened to be out, I traced off the Tank top (model #1) and sewed it up.
I had a long, skinny strip of slinky knit left over from this outfit, and it was exactly enough for this tank. Yay for stashbusting and for using my Ottobre Woman magazines! I did the same sort of cheater FBA on this, just grading out to the size 40 at the underarm, then back to the 38 at the waist. Slinky is really forgiving, so I didn't stress out too much about the fit.
The pattern calls for binding at the neckline and armhole, but there are very few things less appealing than trying to do a binding with slinky. I just made a plain band and topstitched the neckband down. It was much less fussy than messing around with a binding.
The neckline on the Ottobre tank is a bit higher than the Renfrew V neck, so it shows a bit, but I like the casual, layered look that results, so I'm pleased. I'm glad I finally tried out this Ottobre tee as well. It's the basis for several other styles in that issue, so it'll be fun to try out some of those!
