Simplicity 9776 gym tank DONE + a new blog for you to follow!

This was actually the last garment of 2014.  When I wrote my 2014 recap, I had this down for "half a garment" but I've since decided that it is DONE.

The Fabric, Pattern and FOE Binding Method

The pattern is Simplicity 9776 (it's like 1776, but 8,000 years later), an oldie but goodie pattern that I've used for making gym tanks before....three of them in fact.

The outer layer is a burgundy stretch lace-type fabric that I bought at the FIDM scholarship store in Nov of 2013 with Rachel and Jeanette.

The stretch lace is underlined with black Nike Dri-Fit fabric that I recently bought on SewSassy.com.
I basted the lace to the dri-fit and then basted the tank together, tried it on and then serged it with my BabyLock Enlighten.  Seriously, if you can get someone to buy that machine for you (or save your $$$) it is an amazing machine.  My old serger enjoyed chewing up lace tanks for lunch, whereas the Enlighten serges through it like butter.




I did not hem the tank, just positioned it so that this wide stripe would be the "hem", and cut it with my rotary cutter.  I also didn't hem the dri-fit.  Neither the lace tank nor the Dri-Fit is curling nor unraveling, score!

The method for applying the FOE (purchased on Etsy as a 10 yard roll) was from the PR class "More Knits" by Sarah Veblen.  You can see that the fabric is just puckering slightly lying here on my cutting table because the FOE is stretched during application.  If you don't stretch the FOE, the binding will not lie flat against your body.  Sarah emphasized this point during the class, but as Jennifer Stern would say, "ask me how I know".

My other gym tanks had plain ol' knit fabric as underlining, which means that by the end of class, they are drenched with sweat.  This typically doesn't bother me as I take a shower right there at the gym, and my limp and sweaty tank is proof of my workout, ha ha.  So using the Dri-Fit fabric was a little experiment.

Front

Back.  I matched the stripes in the back

Side seams
This tank has a dart in it, so I matched the stripes under the dart.  I honestly don't remember whose blog I read where they said to make sure to match the stripes UNDER the dart while cutting out the fabric instead of OVER the dart (because if you match OVER the dart, they will not match UNDER the dart which is where everyone can see because who is looking under your armpit) but that  tip stuck with me.  Thank you, blogger I can't remember!

So the reason I felt it was not "done" was because the placement of the FOE is not symmetrical. I thought about ripping it out and trying again but I'm afraid to do damage to the lace.  The risk of total damage and destruction outweighs my perfectionism and I'm letting it go.  I know.  This is a big step for me.


So I've worn it twice to the gym now.  On New Year's Day (when I took these pix) I took balletone, which is a somewhat-sweaty but not overly-sweaty class.   The dri-fit fabric was great and wicked away the moisture.


I washed the tank yesterday (wash in the washing machine and line dried).

Tonight I wore the tank for boogietone, which is a high-sweat class.  The bra I wore the tank with is not an exercise bra so the bra itself retains moisture whereas the top releases it.  I would say that overall the tank was not as sweat filled as my cotton tanks and probably wouldn't be sweaty at all if I had worn a moisture wicking bra too.

The next tank I will make using a similar wicking fabric, but will be cut from a freebie conference t-shirt that happens to be "performance fabric".

You can see how my bra strap does not align with my tank strap on my left shoulder, but it does align on my right side.  I'm also going to try to let my perfectionist side let that one go too.....

You can see the sneak peek of the next garment I made....that's the Sewaholic Renfrew on my dressform.  At that point it was gigantic in the bust (because that fabric was waaay stretchier than others I have used for Renfrews) and not hemmed.  I have since made it fit!

New Blog Alert!!
In other news, if you are looking for a new style blog to follow, my friend Ellen has started a really fun one with her daughter Rachael, Style 25 to 55.  The concept is to take a fabric/look/style and show how to rock the same concept at ages 25 and 55 in a really fun, clean, concise and snappy way.  Check it out here!  They will be posting on Mondays and Fridays.

Be well!