It's hot now, and I need some tank tops for tennis! The two Aura tanks I made out of Nike fabric are super comfortable, and I love wearing them. So I decided rather than hunt in a crap shoot online for the right fabric, I'd head on over to Salvation Army and find some XL shirts with fabric I could see and feel. 

I found a lot of shirts that would work and got five. That's probably got way more than I needed, but, what can I say? I thought it would be such a simple thing to sew these into tank tops, and I guess I got carried away. Too bad it didn't turn out to be so easy.  ​

Putting the shirts together went so quickly at first...cutting out the front and back and sewing up the shell; then, it went downhill fast. It was tedious and time consuming. It took me about 4 days to finish all of these once the front and back were sewn together! Here are the steps.

• Hunt for enough fabric in the scraps for the neckline binding and the two armhole bindings and cut the strips. (I found enough for all tanks except for the teal. For that, I considered a number of fabrics in my stash, from a thicker black labeled "performance," to black and white cotton rib knit. In the end, I used some scraps of blue Nike fabric because it was soft, and I know how it wears. The color doesn't really match, but none of the other options looked much better, so I went with assured comfort.)
• Sew the strips together to get enough length for each binding. (I generally used the fabric from the XL arms, cut 1.5-inch-width strips, and sewed 2 strips together for each armhole binding and anywhere from 3 to 5 for the neckband.)
• Pin the bindings onto the neck and armhole openings
• Baste the bindings on
• Serge the bindings on
• Press all the bindings (twice; once as sewn and twice with the binding turned right side up)
• Coverstitch all the bindings
• Press all the coverstitching

These days, I baste stuff together before going to the serger; it's too easy to fuck up on a serger with the tiniest wrong movement, and it's too much to serge and hold a seam together, especially where bindings, narrow seams, and armholes and necks are involved. So I like to have the seam secured first so there is only one thing to do on the serger—follow the basted line and sew.

Why did it seem so endless and tedious? Well, with 5 shirts, that's 5 neckbands and 10 armholes for a total of 15 bindings, which equals 100 percent Crazy Town.

Here's a close up of the bands. 

This isn't how I planned it.

​I went looking for "performance jersey" to make more tennis tee shirts and tanks. I found this stuff called "moisture wicking." Looks a little like pique on one side and PVC on the other. Bought 2 yards of three different colors, but didn't notice that the PVC side is supposed to be worn on the outside or else "the moisture wicking won't work." So in the end, they look a little shiny and not as I had imagined or hoped.

And even though I had planned to make 3 tee shirts and 3 tank tops, which would not have been that nuts, I ended up zoning out while cutting, thinking "oh, I have enough for sleeves for all the shirts." 

So now I have 6 new tennis tees. I have worn a couple and they are not all that cool. I don't know how long into the heat of summer I'll be able to wear them. Oh well.

So I started playing tennis at an indoor club in January 2024. I had a few tops I'd accumulated made out of the new-to-me performance jersey. It turns out that I really like playing in this material. I only have 3 of these, though, and those that I have are a little tacky. One is a shirt I got after doing the Rugged Maniac event. It's got a lot of writing on it, my favorite of which is "Finisher" in big letters on the back hahahaha. Another is one I got for Xmas, and it's got a company logo on it because the giver could get a lot of tchotchke from her job. The other one turned up a few years ago in the wash and no one claimed it. It's black with weirdly shaped stripes down the side.

When I remembered that I had a stash of Nike performance jersey—blue, red, maroon, and black—I decided to make some tops for tennis. I had already used some blue and black to make a Jalie raglan top that I use as a lightweight pullover, and I ended up getting 5 tops out of the fabric I had left.

It's still cold here, so T-shirts seemed to make sense, but it has been warm a few days, making me realize I'll want tanks when the time comes. So I made a mix of both. In the end, what I sewed was determined by how much fabric I had.

I made 3 tees shirts and two tanks.

• Jalie 3245 tee. I would have liked all raglans for the tees, but there wasn't enough material, and I could only get one raglan. Even though I love that Jalie 2676 raglan top, I thought it might be too loose fitting for tennis, so I used this other Jalie pattern I had.
• Aura tanks. I just got this for this project, and I'm very happy with it.
• Jalie 2005 tees. I have had this pattern a long time! It is a great pattern.

I must have made this before, but I don't have any examples documented in this blog. I have traced and cut out a smaller size (R) and written my daughter's name on it, and I also have a size S traced and cut out, which is what I determined I needed this time. (Update I found the earlier versions.)

I added a couple inches to the hips and made this t-shirt for tennis. I didn't have enough of this fabric left to do a raglan top, which I thought I'd prefer (Jalie 3245), but in the end, I like how this turned out. I thought it might be a smidge too small, but I wore it today to play and it was comfortable. The question is when I make another shirt (I have two more bits of this Nike fabric), will I be too lazy to trace out a larger size, or will I just make this one again? 

One thing I learned making this is to never, never, never cut snips into the seam allowance to mark the join marks. OMG I knew I should not do that into a 1/4" seam allowance, but I did because I'm lazy and this method is what so many people say they do. Of course, I ended up with two holes on each side seam. I had to cover them up with satin stitching. It's an absolute pain finding an easy yet accurate method for pattern markings, but snips ain't it. 

I used my new coverstitch to sew hems and topstitch the yoke, shoulders, neckline, AND the side seams, which I did hoping it would cover the holes, which it didn't. Anywho, my coverstitch is a DREAM. It's a Babylock Euphoria, aptly named, and it's 100 billion times better than the POC Janome Coverstitch Pro I traded in for it. So nice to have good equipment.

I still love my Babylock Imagine serger. Even though it's so old it's been discontinued, it's still an awesome machine. My Pfaff Ambition 1.5 is equally old. They don't make those anymore either. But it's also super quality and I still love it.

Here is the second tennis tee I made with my stash of this Nike performance jersey and Jalie 2005. By the time I got to cutting out this shirt, I had only scraps of black, so I had to use red to trim the sleeves. An eensy bit weird, but whatevs. It's comfy and I think it looks cool.

So I was watching this YouTube video and I fell in love with this tee shirt Becky from Notes from the Sewing room made, especially the fabric. ​

She gave a link to the fabric, and I bought the same thing and made the same tee!

I'm such a copy cat!

But I'm not crazy wild about my version. I don't think the neckline looks good on me—and I lowered it from the pattern based on Becky's review. Wasn't enough. I'm not sure the puffy sleeves do either. I've seen more of these, on Becky and other sewers, and they always look so cute! Maybe it's okay.

I have been wearing it. I like it when it's tucked or under my overalls. 

UPDATE 8/28/2024: I redid the neckline. I like it much better, but in the end, I don't think this t-shirt is a style for me. Poofy arms? eh, not so much. But maybe it's this fabric. The print is lovely, but I noticed that the fabric on this is already showing signs of wear, mostly pilling and drooping. It seems to have grown two sizes. Jeez.

Oh, I forgot I lost 20 pounds. That might have something to do with the way it's hanging...

Note to self: No more rayon jersey.

I've been wanting to make this raglan pullover for a long time. I have a light sweatshirt I love to wear because it's comfortable and I like the styling, but the color is a pale brown so it's not great on me. I bought some "Nike fabric" a while back--a lightweight, breathable, poly jersey--and I decided to use it with this pattern. It could be a spring or fall coverup when it's not that cold but I still need something. The fabric is soft and was nice to work with. I liked how it turned out. It fits well. I didn't like the neckline as drafted, however. It fit like a choke hold. So I cut off the first neckband, traced the neckline of the sweatshirt I was trying to duplicate, used the tracing to cut a new neckline, and then sewed a new neckband. I really like the result.

I don't have a picture of the original Gap tank top. I wore it to death. It was long past its expiration date when I finally got rid of it. But before I did, I studied the construction and created a pattern. And I made 3 versions in different colors OUT OF MY SON'S OLD T-SHIRTS. I am so very proud of myself. I made these a couple years ago and am only now remembering to document them.

The first one I made was black. 

The other two are a gray and a white.

I wear my gray Blackwood Cardigan all the time in spite of it not closing fully in front. IT is so comfortable and I love the color. I  figured if I wear that one, I'd wear one in purple. This new one is definitely french terry; I paid attention this time. But it is different than my gray one, which is not quite as heavy. This one is definitely more like a sweatshirt material. It's okay. I still like it, and I like the purple a lot. No issues making it; it went together very easily. 

So many people have sewed the Scout Tee and raved. After my fourth muslin of Simplicity 2599, I went a little nuts. I switched plans and bought the Scout pattern. The Scout Tee looks so easy! No darts! Something I remember reading praised the pattern for clever pattern design that resulted in a good fit "instead of darts." (I could be making that up.)  What if instead of tweaking a Big 3 bodice pattern over and over again, I could just use a cleverly designed pattern? It's also billed as a "woven tee," and something about that description is alluring. 

I did have my doubts. Although many people seem to look good in the photos of their versions, the one on Grainline's site seems to pull a little under the arms, and...well that is not a very big-bosomed model. I need a C or D cup or I have to make an FBA. Still, I went ahead and made the purchase. I wasn't thinking straight.

I put the PDF pattern together and sewed up a muslin. Not good. Neckline gapes, which I know how to fix, but it pulls under the arms to such a degree that it is uncomfortable, and I don't know how to fix that. The back is rather voluminous. 

​I can't sew this up in good material. It needs adjusting, and I'm not sure how to adjust it. That vague memory of "clever construction" makes me think I can't do the usual. Maybe someday I will investigate to see if anyone has ever had similar problems and what they did about it. I suppose I could try a larger size at the top. 

This looks like a simple top. I suppose it is. I have finally finished my first actual garment from it, and it's only taken me about 10 years. I bought the pattern ages ago. I've taken it out and considered it multiple times. Finally, in the past few months, I resolved to reduce some stash fabric by making tops of some silk chiffon I purchased when I first started sewing again and didn't have better sense, and I took this pattern out. I made a muslin. Even though it comes with different cup sizes, which helps immensely, don't get me wrong, it still did not fit well. I added about 2" to the hips. I lowered the dart by 1". I added two long darts in the back. I was pretty happy with it at that point.

However, I was thinking about duplicating a silk chiffon top I own already:

So I made the neckline a V-neck. Then I realized I had no seam allowance. Once I added, I realized I didn't know how to manage the partial opening at the top--how do you account for seam allowance at the opening, have none in the middle of the garment, and not have it look awful? By this point I had made 5 muslins and I couldn't deal with making more. 

I looked up, saw some cotton batik lawn-like fabric I'd bought at last year's sewing expo, and decided to make it up in this pattern and went back to the round neckline. I made my own bias tape using the bias-tape-maker gadget I'd owned for 10 years, and it turned out great! 

I am super happy with the fit of this top, and I like the round neckline. Bonus...I didn't put a zipper in even though it's a woven. I can get it on and off easily. So I will use this pattern for the two swaths of silk chiffon I have. I have to line them, so it's going to be hell to sew, and I'm not looking forward to silk chiffon bias tape making, and I am still debating a zipper closure...