Summertime Blog Tour 2020: Day Two

June 30, 2020

Welcome back to day TWO of our super awesome and super fun Summertime Blog Tour!!!

Today we have three incredibly talented seamstresses sharing their creations with us. So grab some shades, pull up a lawn chair, and sip on that umbrella drink while Alyssa, Ilse , and Lim Hwee Ke bring on the summer.

First up today we have Alyssa of The Sewing Goatherd. If you are new to Alyssa's blog you are in for a treat. She has the perfect blend of farm chic, period inspiration, and modern style in everything she makes...plus she occasionally shares pictures of her adorable goats!!! But for today's blog, Alyssa turned to the brand new Journey Pattern. Her's is breathtaking, so head on over to her blog to see all the pictures and read all about it.

Next we have Ilse of Sew Sew Ilse. If I had one word to sum up Ilse's sewing style it would be 'CLASSY'. I knew that the Traveler Tee was in great hands and pretty much had a 'jaw on the floor' moment when I saw what Ilse did with this pattern. This dress hack is everything and you are not going to want to miss seeing all of Ilse's pictures and hearing how she made this must have summer dress over on her blog! The Traveler Tee is one of the pattern in our Summertime Sale for $4 this week!!!!

Last up for today is Lim Hwee Ke - this is her first time blogging with us at WWD, and I am so excited to have her joining the team. I have her full blog post about the Double Take Tank, and Dress Hack here, but you can also find it on her blog KekeSews - go show her some extra love and encourage her to keep showing off her talents in blog land!!!

*The Double Take Tank is one of the patterns included in our $4 Summertime Sale!!!

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You can never have too many woven tanks in your wardrobe. They are a staple in a summer wardrobe and where I come from, it's summer all year round!

When done well, woven tanks can be very flattering and comfortable. Depending on the fabric choice, you can even use a woven tank as a shell blouse for work to complement the work skirts and pants you own!

This is the Double Take Tank by Winter Wear Designs:

It's a wonderfully flattering woven tank that has many different options. This version uses the scoop back, shirt tail hem option. I liked it cos it was incredibly quick to make and the bust darts gave it (and me) curves. 😅 This tank I made is a mystery black poly-cotton blend and I think plain black goes so so well with so many bottoms! Win!

Because I loved how it fits as a tank, I thought perhaps I could hack the pattern into a dress instead because I have always preferred "work dresses". Dresses means I don't have to worry about matching top and bottom and in the morning, you sometimes just want to slip something on and get moving =p

My "hacked" version of the double take tank:

(Can u tell I had fun doing this photoshoot? 😂) I even put on makeup! And I don't even bother that much for work!

This dress is LOVE LOVE LOVE! It's made using slinky slinky rayon which was a b*tch to cut and sew. It frays like mad. but the end result.... was WORTH IT.

So are you sold on it yet? Let's talk about hacking! Thankfully, it was really easy to hack this tank!

So what I did was, I wore the black tank (that's the one on top) then held a cloth measuring tape up against it and measured the additional length I needed for a knee length dress (that's 11 inches for me, height 167cm)

Then, I cut along the shorten/lengthen line on the pattern pieces for front and back (I used the straight hem for both pieces), shifted it down by 11 inches, tape additional paper on, redrew the sides, cut the new pattern out and that's it!!

At first I was worried that I may need more width at the bottom so I can slip the dress over my head since there are no closures (YES! No zippers!! Woot!) So I actually did increase the width at the bottom a little for my first draft. Then after I baste and tried it on, I decided I don't need that extra width and snipped off the excess.

I think it looks really good with a belt too!

I hope this post has inspired you to try it yourself! And if you do try it, please let me know how it went!! Can't wait to hear from everyone!

If you don't have the pattern, you can get it here: Double Take Tank by Winter Wear Designs

This is an aff link, if you purchase anything after clicking on the link, I will get some commission at no extra cost to you - that gives me a bit of spare change to buy more fabric! =p

Also, full disclosure, I did get this pattern for free as part of the summer time blog tour but all the comments and thoughts are my own =)