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.)

 Still not great at the edge stitching on the straps, but that's a lot less obvious when everything's black.

 

The piecing at the side seams/hem is fairly innocuous, helped by the fact that I was able to pattern match, using fabric from the sleeves.  Shockingly. 

 

I did create an issue by not paying attention to the seam allowances of the piecing, and getting it caught in the side seams in a way that makes it so it can't lay flat.  I clipped the offending seam allowances a little, but they're pretty narrow anyway, and I didn't want to risk making too potentially weak.  It should be unnoticeable enough in daily wear.

It took 3½ tries to get the hem sewn acceptably.  I didn't serge the raw edge until after picking out the second try, either, but I think its extreme irregularity was influencing me to not try harder to get a good stitch.  I ended up having to set the top tension at about 8 to get the bobbin thread--which is what's visible on the outside--to behave.  Mostly.  There are still issues.

 

 Pressing the lower edge did tidy it up a little more, too.

 The back, featuring a hilariously large Greenland. 

There's almost a line tracing from Ipanema to Greenland--close enough for the song to get stuck in my head.