A double-gauze tank for the summer!

When the latest Cotton + Steel fabric lines came out recently, I discovered the Bespoke double gauze collection from Cotton + Steel.  I had never seen or felt this fabric before, but the video about the fabric (soft! fluffy!) convinced me to go out on a limb and get some of the  "ephemera mustard" fabric.

Other folks (Fancy Tiger Crafts and made by Rae) had created tops out of the material, and these inspired me to do the same.  I decided to make my own pattern based upon a favorite batik tank top I wore [deep inhale] more than 20 years ago in high school and as a freshman in college. Amazingly, I could still "wear" the tank before I cut it apart, but only because the upper part of the front of the tank had experienced a rip parallel to the button placket, allowing for "expansion..."  This is one of the reasons I liked the shirt so much - I never used the buttons, so a new shirt based on the old one did not need buttons or zippers.

I cut the front and back of the old tank top apart, and folded each in half so that I would have symmetrical pieces when done. I traced outlines of the front and back of the tank on a big piece of paper.  Then, I removed the tank top pieces, made some adjustments (increased the armholes; increased the length), and cut out the paper patterns.

I lined up the front and back pieces, and cut them together (except the neck) so the bottom edges and straps matched.

There was enough fabric for me to cut the front and the back so that the bands of color would match when the pieces were assembled.  There is enough fabric left over that I want to buy more double gauze to make a super-soft, fluffy quilt for the summer. (!)

As suggested in the Bespoke video mentioned above, I used very wide allowances (about 3/4" -1") to minimize issues with the double gauze unraveling and causing chaos while trying to sew.  It worked- and I didn't even need to iron anything.  I just double-folded and pinned armholes, the neckline, and the bottom seam, and then sewed them up:

I used french seams to complete the side seams and the straps. Again, no ironing needed.

It took a little finagling to get the armholes adjusted, get the side seams right, etc.

In the end, it seemed like something was missing.  The little stars in the pattern of the fabric inspired me to decorate the collar with a star-chain embroidery stitch available on my machine:

And voila!  A tank top ready to wear in the spring weather, whenever it decides to show up.

It has been incredibly warm the last few days (50-60 F) compared to our standard fare of the last couple of months (two weeks ago I distinctly remember thinking - wow, it's warm out here, it's 22 F outside!).  Still, we're not quite at the gauzy tank top stage yet.  Maybe with a cardigan.