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You are here: Home / Clothing / Rainbow of Tanks

Rainbow of Tanks

May 11, 2015 by Jodi 11 Comments

I feel like these tank tops where a sewing break through for me.

Every wardrobe needs a rainbow of tank tops for summer time - sew fearless.com

I had a major void in my maternity wardrobe and in less than two weeks I had filled it with 5 shirts.

The key to a handmade wardrobe is focusing on the basics.

That is the beauty of having small but strong arsenal of basic wardrobe patterns. Any wardrobe deficiencies can be quickly remedied without the drudgery of muslining and fitting and fitting and muslining. After I had my fabrics in hand, it only took a week sewing and I now have 5 new tops that I am wearing on a daily basis.

DIY maternity - Jalie Raceback Tank, Jersey maxi skirt

And I am not exaggerating when I say daily. I’ve been instagramming my outfits for “Me Made May” and it’s been kinda boring because I wear a variation on this outfit in every single post. But the thing is I am wearing a handmade item every single day, and when I dedicated myself to learning this craft 9(?) years ago that was an unthinkable goal. Yet, here I am.

DIY maternity - Jalie Raceback Tank, Jersey maxi skirt

So, boring? yes. Practical? deeply so. And it’s the only way I’ve been able to survive this freakishly hot weather with 30 weeks of baby attached.

DIY maternity - Jalie Raceback Tank, Jersey maxi skirt

Laziness can be a design choice.

The discovery of using rainbow variegated thread in the loopers of my overlock also played a huge role in the success of this project. I don’t mind rethreading the needles, but the thought of switching all four threads every time I switched projects was enough to make me avoid using the serger all together. The thing is the looper thread is never seen from the outside, and technically it doesn’t even need to match. I could have used navy blue in the loopers for all my shirts, and they would have been just fine from the outside, but by using rainbow thread, laziness becomes a design choice. neat hunh?

DIY maternity - Jalie Raceback Tank

Project Details

Every wardrobe needs a rainbow of tank tops for summer time - sew fearless.com

Maternity adjustments are fairly straightforward when using knits with good stretch. I’ve been wearing my Jalie Raglan tees for most of my pregnancy, and I found that the only thing those shirts are lacking during this final trimester is length. So, I translated my pre-pregnancy adjustments from the raglan to the racerback tank and added even more length.

Jalie Racerback tank - modified for maternity wear

  • Pre-Pregnancy Measurements: Bust: 40.5 inches; Waist: 38.25 inches; Hips: 49.5 inches; Height: 5’10”
  • Current Bust: 42 inches
  • Fabric: Robert Kaufman Laguna Jersey from imagine gnats, and Fabric.com
  • Pattern: Jalie 3245 – View C: Racerback Tank
  • Size: ‘Y’ in the bust graded to a ‘DD’ in the hips (this was the same adjustment I did for my non-maternity raglan tops)
  • 4.5 inches added to the total length at bottom hem (1.5 inches for my height, 3 inches for the pregnancy belly)
  • The length of the tank made the curved hem look funny. So, I raised the center front/back of the hem 1.5 inches to straighten it out..

Every wardrobe needs a rainbow of tank tops for summer time - sew fearless.com

If you didn’t see it, I have already shared a tutorial about the lovely binding method in this pattern. You can find that here.

Knit Skinny Binding Tutorial

 

Filed Under: Clothing, Maternity, Women's Clothing Tagged With: diymaternity, jalie, maternity, racerback, racerback tank, summer, tank

Previous Post: « Knit Skinny Binding Tutorial
Next Post: The Better-Than-Basic Bag Pattern Launch & Giveaway »

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Lauren says

    May 11, 2015 at 10:06 pm

    Lovely tanks and pics! I love all your thoughts on this.

    Reply
  2. rachael {imagine gnats} says

    May 12, 2015 at 9:17 am

    love the tanks!! and the rainbow serger thread is downright lovely 🙂

    Reply
  3. Shirley says

    May 12, 2015 at 11:01 am

    I am definitely going to get me some of the rainbow thread! What a great idea! I’m working on this pattern right now.

    Reply
  4. Ceca says

    May 12, 2015 at 11:03 am

    You’re beautiful, glowing, beautiful. Greetings from Serbia.

    Reply
  5. Masha says

    May 12, 2015 at 1:51 pm

    Yes! I am currently enormously pregnant as well and that stack looks like the ultimate in maternity comfort. Nicely done. I love the rainbow thread, too.

    Reply
  6. Charity says

    May 12, 2015 at 3:22 pm

    As my husband says, it’s not laziness, it’s efficiency! =) I love to sew basics with a twist, but I never made it to your level of production. Nicely done!

    Reply
  7. Linda Galante says

    May 12, 2015 at 4:48 pm

    Love the tops and the idea of rainbow thread. Brilliant!

    Reply
  8. Erin Keith says

    May 14, 2015 at 4:20 am

    These are adorable and you look WONDERFUL!! I laughed out loud at “laziness can be a design choice.” Totally. Particularly when heavily pregnant with baby #6. 🙂 Can’t wait to get a serger so that I can try your tutorial for the binding, it looks fantastic!

    Reply

Trackbacks

  1. Maternity Southport Maxi - Sew Fearless says:
    June 11, 2015 at 2:22 pm

    […] been wearing my maternity tanks to death since I sewed them, but I felt like I needed something a little more special for Sunday […]

    Reply
  2. Nursing Sleep Bras - Sew Fearless says:
    July 10, 2015 at 9:05 am

    […] so I did! And I improved on the originals by making them out of the leftover Laguna Jersey from my maternity tank project. It makes me ridiculously happy to have such prettily-colored sleep […]

    Reply
  3. Cozy Knits - Sew Fearless says:
    February 15, 2016 at 12:26 pm

    […] used the same Jalie pattern that I’ve posted about before (as the mid-length sleeve tees and the maternity tanks). It’s so great to have a trusty pattern to fall back on. This time I lengthened the sleeve […]

    Reply

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Jodi - Sewing Advocate - Mother of 7 - Lover of Swings and Deadlifts - Catholic

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