Doesn’t it sound like it could be a band!? :) Charlotte and the Foxglove Duo… LIVE at the Apollo!

So today was very exciting. I was finishing up my Foxglove tanks this morning and guess what the post man dropped off!??!

:D

Meet Charlotte. She is my slightly early birthday gift from Danny and I love her already!

She is the Dritz Twin Fit adjustable dress form, size small. She got her name right out of the box. I said ‘ooo what should I name her’ and Danny said ‘you should name her Charlotte’. Aaaand DONE! Don’t ask me where he comes up with this stuff. But I think it’s perfect. It’s such a nice name. Like Charlotte York or Charlotte, North Carolina (a place I’ve never been, but in my head it’s very beautiful).

So I thought it only fitting to have Charlotte help me take photos of my Foxglove tanks! I wanted to make a few of these anyway, so it was good timing for the TMS Indie Pattern Month One Pattern Two Takes Challenge.

Pattern: Selvage Designs Foxglove Tank (

TAKE ONE: To start, I pulled out the fabric I had planned to use for my Syrah Skirt originally. It’s a jersey knit I got in my December KnitFix from Girl Charlee. After deciding the stripes would overwhelm me in skirt form, I decided I needed to make it into a racerback tank. I was going between the Free Spirit Tank, the Spoxxy Top, and the Foxglove. Foxglove won out because I really love the hemline and I wanted to play around with wovens too :)

I serged the inner seams and used knit strips as binding. All of the binding turned out well except the back of the neckline is a little wonky where I should have stretched the binding a little more.

I got a wider twin needle, which I love — it doesn’t get caught up as much as my other one — but I can see where tunneling could become a problem.

 

TAKE TWO: For my second version, I wanted to try a woven. I used a vintage sheet from my grandma stash. She only had about half the sheet left which makes me wonder what she made out of the other half! I’ve been waiting for just the right pattern for this and I think I found it.

I had to piece it together, but luckily the Foxglove tank calls for that anyway. The flower pattern ended up matching up in the back but not the front. I still think it works. I also had some yellow leftover fabric from my dwarf costume belts so I finally put my bias tape maker to use (that I got for Christmas…) to make the bias tape for the neckline and arms. This was my first time doing a bias tape binding this way and I love how it turned out. You can see the yellow through the fabric, but not in a bad way.

 

I used her clean finish technique on the front, back, and shoulder seams, and added some color to get some nice topstitching.

I used french seams on the side seams and a narrow hem at the bottom. I just can’t get over how nice the inside looks when there are no visible seams. Maybe I’m finally getting over my fear of wovens…. maybe ;)

So there you have it. One pattern, two takes! Which do you like the best? I’m partial to the flowers but the stripes are so comfy. I can’t decide!

Is that enough pictures for one post?

Yes? Okay, here’s one more anyway!

Until next time,