Free Range Mommy: The Lazy Mama's Tank Top From a Vintage Pillowcase...

...or any pillowcase really, I just felt compelled to use the word vintage in one more title.

Hi! It's me of the dirty mirrors and messy house in the background! Back with more pictures showing that no, I never did clean those mirrors! The house, I promise, has been cleaned many times over, but you'd never know it. Oh, and I still can't rotate my pictures in blogger as far as I can tell. I try to remember to not take vertical pictures, but sometimes certain parts of my mess have to be cut out. Onward and upward...

This is a tutorial for ladies like me who like to sew stuff, but lack the patience needed to learn and or follow the rules of sewing. Like the measuring part. That pesky ironing part. I have a vague understanding that if I took the time to learn the tricks of the trade I would start producing much more beautiful things, and I'd probably be floored at how much easier life would be if I knew ways to address sewing conundrums I run into every once in a while (all. the. time.) But I'm stubborn like that.

I've got a love affair with vintage sheets, along with half the internet blog world, I realize I'm no trend setter. And there are some CA-UTE tank top tutorials. But they involve ironing and measuring. Not gonna do it. Also I've been looking for one without shirring, please. Looks amazing, but I went into Joann's to ask about elastic thread and they looked at me like I had ten heads. Special trips to stores for no reason scar me and it'll be a while before I try again at the other fabric store.

Looking at a pillowcase, one notices that it's basically a tank top with the arm and neck holes yet to be cut out, am I right? But I was unable to find a tutorial to hold my hand and tell me "Yes, dear, you are right. Just cut out the arm and neck holes, hem her up, and you'll have yourself a tank top" So Dears, here is that tutorial. My lack of discipline in the ways of sewing leave you with a product that is clearly homemade. Were anybody to look closely, they would have no doubt. In my world, totally acceptable. In yours? I have no idea. But I think you could take this tutorial and complicate it if you really wanted something professional. My biggest regret is probably that I used straight stitches and didn't serge my edges. I'm gonna have fraying. I didn't want to start up my serger because it draws the kids' attention to it. Seriously. That is my honest to goodness excuse. I made this thing in a whirlwind of little person mania and it shows - literally - you'll see photographic evidence.

You'll need:

-A template tank top - you won't cut it up so don't worry about ruining it.

-A pillowcase that your template tank top fits on.

-Scissors

-Pins

-Sewing machine with zig zag stitch

Step 1: Turn your pillowcase and your template tank top inside out and lay the tank top on top of the pillowcase. I put the straps of my tank top at the top (closed) part of the pillowcase and smoothed everything out with my hands (no ironing, remember?):

Step 2: Pin along the contour of the tank top on each side:

Step 3: Cut the arm holes and neck hole. For the arm holes I left about a 1/2 inchish (remember, no measuring - you're welcome to if this makes you twitchy) since I'm going to hem it later. Also the template tank top is on the snug side for me, so I figured a little wiggle room wouldn't hurt. The neck on this tank top is pretty high cut though, so I cut right down til the fabric was even on the neck. I left extra room on the straps since I didn't want such skinny straps on my new tank top:

Step 4: Turn it inside out and try that puppy on. At this point you're making sure the thing still fits on your body. I got lucky and it just fit....sort of...see, my hips were too wide for the full length of the pillowcase to hang, but I really liked the way the wide band sat and how it gave some fullness (ahem gut room) to the body of the tank top. If yours doesn't fit I'd re-position the pins a quarter inch or so further out and try again. Be careful not to impale yourself on pins during this step! p.s the pic below was actually taken after the whole thing was done, but I wanted to give a visual to what I'm talking about with the band on the hips...just ignore the neck and arm holes, yours won't be done at this point. Please note spray bottle-ageddon which is brewing to my left in this shot:

Step 5: The sewing begins. First I re-sew the seams at the top of the shoulders - we have cut through the original seam so it is probably starting to unravel and that makes it tough to hem up:

Step 6: Sew up both sides. I cut the curve on one side, giving myself a little room for sewing - I probably should have given myself more, then I could have serged it later. Be careful at the bottom here, on a practice pillowcase I veered off too abruptly and it ended up putting this weird bulge in the sides. The pic below I went much more gradually with how I sewed down into the existing seam. Does that even make sense? Hopefully the picture helps. Those of you who sew are probably taking note of how my edges are going to fray right into my straight stitch seam. Sucks. Oh well. I knew the price of not following rules.

Step 7: I took and folded the tank top in half lengthwise to match up the sides just to make sure the the contuors matched more or less. They did, so I went ahead and cut the curve on the second side and sewed that up:

Step 8: Next I hemmed the arm and neck holes. I totally winged it here, folding the fabric over maybe an eighth to a quarter of an inch and just sewing....I opened up seams and folded them over as in the picture below, and just sort of made things work. I write this thinking that I would probably scream if I read a tutorial telling me to wing it...all I can say is that I am not an especially naturally talented or intuitive seamstress. If I can do it, I REALLY think you can do it too.

This is how it was looking as I worked on the neck hole, after finishing the arm holes:

And that was pretty much it, yo! There was a lot of screaming and yelling and asking kids to stop spraying each other THROUGH ME, and to quit turning my machine on and off AS I AM SEWING, so probably this tutorial comes off as chaotic as it was. For that I'm sorry, but it's just how I roll. I'm really not sure what to do about it. I would be happy to answer any questions though, and if you make one of these, OMG link me!!! I would be in blogger Nirvana!

Here is my post-finishing photo shoot. Credits to Willie, my budding Ansel Adams: