It’s Not a Twinset — M6355 Tank

After I talked about how useful and practical (read: boring) my new ponte waterfall cardigan was, I found out the truth. It doesn’t actually play well with many of my tops.

After sewing so many tops in amazing, cool prints, it turns out I don’t have many neutral tops (whites, grays, blacks, etc) that go with the brick-red color. I’ve pretty much worn it over dresses.

Fortunately, I was able to finagle that last bit of yardage into a coordinating tank. (Note, we are not using the term “twinset” here, because I’m not Nancy Drew or elderly).

I used McCall’s 6355, which I’ve sewed twice, and I manage to tweak into something new every time. (Once was a simple knit dress, once was a woven dress with inserted panel.) This time, I used a different view, which features a bit of a lower neckline, and I actually followed the instructions and used self-fabric binding for the edges.

My mother-in-law is going to regret gifting us a selfie stick…

I’d planned on doing a narrow hem as on the previous makes, but when I tried it on I thought: oh crap, I’ve gone and made another office-inappropriate neckline. So I squeezed the binding (just barely!) out of the scraps and it fills in the neckline perfectly. I also shortened the binding a bit so that it would resolve a bit of gaping in the neckline that I was experiencing. That worked as well; the bit of stretching I did to fit the binding to the top eliminates the gaping. Unfortunately, I stretched it a bit too much and ended up creating a bit of puckering.

I narrowed the sides a bit to get a slimmer fit, but made no other changes beyond that. It was a quick, relatively easy make.

That said, this simple piece makes the cardi so much easier to wear! I can throw both pieces on with a bunch of different skirts and I’m good to go. I definitely recommend this tactic if you find yourself staring at all your me-made makes that are orphaned in your close: make a companion garment.

Ahh, that’s better!