Getting In the Gunne Sax

 Just about ten years ago exactly, I thrifted this pattern. 

Simplicity 8729, an official Gunne Sax pattern from 1978.  It's a home sewing version of a "real" Gunne Sax style that had been made in a few variations for sale.  It's also cut in size 6, which is way  too small for me.

I borrowed elements from Butterick 6146 to work out a bodice in my size

...I didn't actually have everything worked out when I made this dress, but this was meant as more of a test anyway.

This isn't unwearable (well...more thoughts on that later), but it does have some weirdness. I think I'll have it right the next time!

An Enhanced Dress

Near the end of 2023, I used some fabric I really liked to make a dress that turned out rather short.  At the time I thought the length wouldn't bother me.

I was wrong.

Sometimes I wore a skirt under it for decorative length, but, mostly, I looked at it and despaired.  I liked the print too much to let it go, and it took until just a few days ago to realize that I could remove that pink contrast at the bottom of the skirt and add something longer. 

This revelation snowballed, and I ended up adding a lot of other things to the dress, too.

 

 I could have added more, but...didn't wanna.

Terracotta Tank Top

And here's another New Look 6766 tank top!

 

Once again made with fabric sent by the same person who provided the fabric used for my first two versions of this.  This time, though, it was a proper piece of yardage, of just the right length, making it the first time I've cut this pattern without having to get creative.  It was nice!

Star Tank

Trying Simplicity 8143 again, and not begrudging the fact that part of the usable fabric was narrower (and shorter) than even the smallest size of the pattern wanted, and that I would have to cut the ribbing bands significantly shorter than I had in the previous version.  These limitations made me remove more than I probably would have on my own, and the resulting item fits much better than the first try.

 

 The bit that need improvisation was completely unrelated.

A Different Tank Top Pattern

 I thrifted Simplicity Super Saver 8143, from 1987, a forgotten number of years ago. 

It always looked useful, but I rarely had the right kind of fabric for it.  Once I finally had some, I discovered the tissue had been cut in size 6 (for the top; the skirt was cut in size 10, and I have yet to have any reason to concern myself over that) and despaired, since that was so small.

The recent bout of experimenting with the tank top from New Look 6766 led me to re-evaluate the idea of "correct size" when it comes to a tank top sewing pattern.  Stretch makes a big difference.

And there's loads of stretch in a rib knit, with plenty left of the pale peach rib knit I got from the craft thrift store about two years ago, so I went ahead and cut that in the available size.  I did compensate a bit in sewing by making the side seams only about ¼".  I probably didn't need to do that, because, again: stretch.

But, hey, my main reason for wanting a tank top like this is to layer in winter, and this will certainly work for that.

Tank Map

About four years ago, I made a shirt that mixed other fabrics with the small amount of an extremely late 80s/early 90s map print cotton(y) jersey.  I went on to wear the shirt just enough to realize that the shape was very wrong for my tastes and layering propensities.

I kept the shirt because I did still like the ridiculous print, and I eventually moved it out of my closet and into the fabric stash, as much for potential re-use of the print part as because I was not going to just give away that much black rib knit.  I can use that stuff.

Now that I've added the tank top from New Look 6766 to my sewing repertoire, I have a potential use for small yardages of knits.  I dug out that shirt and found that I could just barely (it would need minor piecing at the hem again) squeeze the body of the tank top from the map knit in the shirt.

(the black rib knit used here was not that which was used in that shirt, but instead something thinner.)

Trying a Tank Top 2

Some of the improvisations needed to make the previous project were prompted by the narrowness of the fabric I was working with.  I liked the result, and turned to another long narrow piece of fabric, supplied by the same acquaintance, for a second try.

This leftover fabric was not the same length as the first, so I wasn't going to be able to cut the back as two pieces, and the width was such that I definitely couldn't cut the front on the fold

Not, at least, in size 12.

I referred to one of my worn out thrifted tank tops, and realized that, while it fit fine, it was very narrow when on its own.  The fabric I wanted to use next was extremely stretchy, so I decided to try making a very narrow version of the New Look 6766 tank top.

 

 Did I mention it was narrow?

Trying a Tank Top

I have, quite accidentally, learned that tank tops are trendy right now.  While I don't care about trends, that did remind me that my supply of thrifted tank tops--worn as extra abdominal warmth layers in winter--is showing its age, so maybe I could try making a few?

I started with some of the leftover knit fabric the friend sent, smaller pieces of which I used for some sleep shirts.  The larger pieces of the fabric I still had weren't, mostly, much larger, so, instead of a traditional tank top, I tried a strappy style.

Specifically, it's the shirt from New Look 6766, which is a pattern I have used may times, but not for the shirt.  I suspect that, when I found it at a thrift store and decided to get it at all, I figured I'd never make the shirt.

Well, here we are. 

 

It works!

A More Traditional Kind of Patchwork Skirt

If there is a quintessential example of my approach to patchwork--heavier fabrics, relatively structured--it would probably be the long A-line skirt I made last summer.

I decided I would put aside my propensity for structured patchwork and try a more "normal" approach of sewing strips of squares and gathering them into tiers for a skirt.

It worked out nicely.