Eucalypt Tank AND Dress
A woven tank has been a missing piece in my wardrobe. Not anymore! I’ve found the perfect tank for me (insert happy dance).
Enter Megan Nielsen’s Eucalypt Tank and Dress from her SS2013 Breakwater Collection. The collection was released today and this was a secret squirrel (pattern testing) sew at the start of March and I’ve already had lots of wear!
When making tops I usually need to make modifications to the bust area, back neckline and garment length to accommodates my unique body. This pattern was no exception. I altered the Medium in the following ways:
1. I removed a 2.4 cm wedge from the upper chest area that tapered to nothing a the centre front (CF).
This adjustment altered the bottom half of the CF, so I added a wedge to ‘true’ it and then removed a similar sized wedge from the side seam to ensure the integrity of the tanks lines remained. I have very little pattern alteration experience and basically look at it from a practical point of view. Where does fabric need to be removed and added?
2. My slightly rounded shoulders dictated that I remove a section from the back shoulders. The wedge was was 2.4 cm at the back neckline and tapered to 1.2 cm at the armhole. There was also some very minor reshaping of the armholes and necklines after this modification.
3. I like my tops to finish around my hips, so I shortened the tank by 2 inches.
Can you believe this is the first time I’ve made a top with a curved hem. Where have I been? I used my 1/4″ quilting foot for the hem and it worked a treat.
How flattering is the side view? Not a mummy tummy in sight!
The fabric is a super soft and drapey Japanese cotton from Rathdowne Fabrics. It frayed like there is no tomorrow, but on the up-side, it hardly creases. The tones are very similar to eucalyptus trees – I nearly called this post Eucalyptus Tank in Eucalyptus Tones! But this post is not all about tanks… I made a Eucalyptus Dress too!
I raided the Liberty stash for this dress. Repeat after me… precious things are to be used and enjoyed.
The dress length is as per the pattern.
And to finish (yes, this has been a VERY long post!) some more photos and a thank-you.
A big thanks to the lovely Karen for both styling and taking these photos. As you can probably tell, we had lots of fun!
Awesome outfits!!! You look great! I love your shoes and your pattern mixing in outfit #1!
Thanks Nettie. I’m really pleased with these makes. It’s just a little unfortunate that it’s a little cold in Melbourne to wear them now. I can see they’ll be on high rotation come Spring/Summer.
How lovely are these outfits!! I live in Uk but visited Melbourne this year and I went Rathdowne remnants and I’m just making my first dress from the fabric I bought!! I’m soo jealous that it is local for you!!
Rathdowne Remnants is a great place to live near 🙂 Isn’t it fabulous to purchase some holiday fabric so you can remember your trip every time you wear the clothes made from the it.
Thank You for your reviews and photos – I love your eucalyptus toned eucalyptus tank 😉
Thanks MaciNic. I love it too 🙂
[…] who: Anna of Blogless Anna […]
Thank you for your review. I will have to snap up this pattern as soon as possible.
I LOVE your accessories! Where did you ever find those shoes? I can feel an obsession coming on. Can you share who made those lovelies? Your chunky necklaces are exquisite, too. I am following you as of this afternoon.
Hi Sew Savory. I must confess I’ve become a little obsessed by accessories – shoes, beads and scarves – myself. The shoes and beads were purchased on sale in Feb this year in Melbourne. They were still very expensive even when they were 50% off, but oh so worth it!
Your tank and dress are both very cute. I skipped this pattern and went for the others, but I am really coming around to it.
[…] example of how much I’ve learnt recently about fitting. Don’t get me wrong, I loved that dress, but my attempts to resolve some fitting problems was to pinch out excess fabric and in the end I […]