Wiksten Tanks

I am waaaaaaaay late to the Wiksten tank party. But after seeing so many Wiksten tanks pop up in the #mmmay15 feed and realizing I am in need of basic wardrobe staples like tanks and t-shirts, I thought I'd give it a try.

Painted Portrait in Lawn

When she was in town earlier this year, Martha picked out a few colorways of this pretty cotton lawn at Belleboo. I offered to sew her up a top from the fabric and she chose the Painted Portrait blouse pattern from Anna Maria Horner. I'd made a couple of these tunics before, so she was able to try them on to see if the style worked for her, which it did!

Frankendress

Buoyed by my success with the Meghan Peasant Blouse/Dress from Sis Boom, I also bought the Angie dress pattern and gave it a try.  I used this gorgeous fabric from Anna Maria Horner, Field Study Raindrops Poppies. 

After putting the dress together, I decided to make some changes. While the neckline and bust darts fit well (yay!), the bodice was way too wide for me- I ended up taking in almost an inch off both sides. I also found that with the fullness of the skirt, the simple tank top bodice seemed sort of skimpy/insubstantial in comparison.  I decided that I wanted to add some short sleeves to the dress, so I used the sleeve pattern from my dead-in-its-tracks Colette Peony dress. 

It definitely needs a belt to break up the dress, give it more of a waist and de-girlify it a bit... I was wearing Tim's hiking belt backwards in these photos because I didn't have the right belt yet at the time.  Ultimately I decided on a long, skinny, black fabric belt, which I wore with the dress at the Jenneth wedding festivities:

I have no idea what we are doing here, but the dress looks cute, eh?

Rocking the Rayon

My first foray into sewing with rayon... dudes, this stuff is slippery.  Pins slide out, it slips off the cutting and sewing tables, the edges shred like crazy.  Definitely a learning experience, sewing this dress.

I bought this batik print rayon at Toko Sariniah here in Jakarta.  It had a border print along one selvage edge, which required some funky cutting to make it work.  I decided to use it with the Painted Portrait pattern that I used for a couple tops a few weeks ago, but this time I made the dress version...

 

I added 4 inches to the bottom of the dress so that it hits me at the knee and I cut the back yoke piece on the fold, skipping the button.  I finished the neckline with bias tape instead of facings.  Also, I sewed French seams throughout since the fabric was so shreddy.

I think it came out pretty cute- ridiculously comfortable due to the slinky rayon.  It does have a bit of a nightgown feel to it, but I think if I find the right skinny belt to pair with it, it would give it some more shape.  Here it is with a thicker belt, which I don't love:

Painted Portrait Blouse: Two Ways

Another successful top made!  And immediately made again!

I've admired this cute blouse and dress pattern from Anna Maria Horner, the Painted Portrait, for a while now.  I like all of the possible variations, particularly the fun pieced yoke option.  I think it would be a pretty awesome use of random scraps from other projects.

The first version I sewed up this week is basically a wearable muslin made out of some machine-printed batik.  I love it!  The empire waist style fit is great and it was really easy to put together.   I'll definitely make it again, maybe using one of my fancier, hand-printed batiks, or perhaps some of Anna Maria Horner's beautiful fabrics.  The details of the blouse get a little bit lost with the busy print used for the whole blouse like this one...  Another idea: a solid yoke (perfect for displaying a cool necklace) with a patterned body.

My only complaint is that I am not a fan of facings... I find them bulky and awkward, even after I tacked them down on the inside of the blouse.  Thus, for my second version, I eliminated the yoke facings and use bias tape to finish the neckline.  Also, I skipped the button and slit in the back of the yoke- I don't need it to get the blouse over my head and the one I made on the batik version was pretty ugly (totally user error on my part).  Now that I've made the second version, I may go back into the first and replace the facings with bias tape.

So, my second version is made from some old school fabric that the Real Martha sent me... I'm not sure what you would call it.  Rainbow striped, funky textured, fairly sheer and flowy... I love it.  It is even better than I imagined in Painted Portrait blouse form.

I cut the yoke pieces so that the stripes were perpendicular to the remainder of the body to make it stand out.  The front looks great, but the back is a little funky because I forgot to pay attention to whether the two sides matched up.  Really I should have just cut the back yoke in one piece, on the fold, and skipped the seam since I wasn't making the back slit.  Live and learn.

I love how it turned out; love the fabric texture.  Perfect for hot Indonesian weather... flowy and light. It has a bit of a late '60s, '70s hippie feel to it.  As if Milla Jovovich might wear it in "Dazed and Confused."  Love it.