short summer series: Traffic light tank top ( and how to sew stretchy fabric)

What do you have when you have a few short tops, and a spine that goes on for miles?




That's right: a problem.

So there was a couple of tops living in my wardrobe...

that's right, it's a set! or like, uhm.. a tank top brother and sister?

Nothing wrong with those? well, look at me wearing one of them:

Joost is SHOCKED

That won't do!

They were ready to move on to the Big Thrift Shop Beyond, but just before throwing them out, I realized: while one short top is a problem, two are an opportunity!

So I took my scissors, and made two bold chops.

Well.. bold.... it's not as if I'm risking my mortgage here..

Since the top were -except for their contrasting colours- exactly similar to each other, I didn't have to worry about adjusting the girth, so I placed both the longer halves on top of each other.

a bit of excellent pinning action going on here..

And under the sewing machine it all went!

For those of you who have trouble getting straight seams in stretchy fabrics, here's some idea's:

•  Always use a proper tricot stitch
• Make sure you switch to the right needle: a blunt, or too big needle can really ruin a stretchy fabric.
• The closer you're sewing near the edge of the fabric, the higher is the risk for getting (unwanted) lettuce seams. So give yourself a bit of extra seam allowance.
• In you've got the time, basting everything before you start really helps. ( but I never have the time for such things, so who am I to judge?)
• If the fabric is really, really tricky you can place painting tape on the fabric before sewing, or pin pattern paper underneath the seam-to-be, to stabilize the fabric and make sure it won't stretch out under your machine.

Luckily, this fabric wasn't that problematic, so a quick change of needles, and a bit of extra seam allowance was enough to create nice seams.

A quick press, and tadaaaa!

I'm a human traffic light! 

I'M THE NEW AMPELMANN! Gods, that makes me so excited.  I should just quit my job ( academics, schmacademics) and apply for a job as walking traffic light. That would be amazing! And with this shirt, I'm confident I would absolutely ace it. BewarenBewaren

So, with that, another refashion bites the dust! As I've hinted on before, there is quite a stack of photo's from old refashions and other diy-projects. So over the next weeks, I'll try to regularly update this blog ( let's say.. twice a week?) with short posts of all these projects. No glamourous photo-shoots of finished results, no full-length novels accompanying it, just short creative projects.  You know, just to get you through the summer! They'll be marked as short summer series, so keep your eyes peeled!