DIY Twilight Pansy Crossback Tank Top | (Alabama Chanin remake)

Adapted/modified free pattern via Melly Sews.  Lengthened by approx 2-3" I think 3" can't quite remember, moved the side seam backwards by 1.5" (to match where the shoulder seam was sitting better).  Dropped the neckline a couple inches just cos it was too flabby.  Definitely worth doing the test garment because it's a free pattern that comes only in one size.  This is a loose fit top.

Cutting template squeezed on one 2XL men's tank top.

Binding goes for ages and ages, took up approximately 30% of project time.  Worth doing the steps of (1) marking the 1.5cm width per side of binding which makes pinning it on very even on both sides (2) marking the grid dots for the binding stitch (3) pinning all binding on (4) basting it all on so that you can remove the zillions of pokey pins everywhere while sewing (5) hand sewing the binding on with chosen stitch.   

In this project I didn't even use a fading ink pen or anything special to transfer the grid dots, just a paper pen with a sharp tip so I could very quickly bang those dots.  The pen was just a fine tip pen, put the point is that I noticed from previous projects that these dots tend to be unseen after the stitch is over it anyway, especially on a dark coloured garment like this.  So it will eventually wash out, and why waste time using a special pen when it slows you down?  Just use a pen that does the job fastest.

The Alabama Chanin grid from their book is excellent for creating even and beautiful stitches, and I think it's worth it to transfer the grid onto the binding because when it comes to stitching time, there's way way way less brain work to do and you can think about other things instead.

Colours and stencil are from the Alabama Chanin web search "twilight pansy" 

Back

Back

Featherstitch (?) binding

Front

Best real colour representation