Serger Pepper’s Everyday Tank Top + giveaway

I recently had the fun time of participating in a sew-along of my friend Irene’s (from Serger Pepper) newest pattern, the Everyday Tank Top and Dress*. This pattern (which you can now get at with a 40% discount or even for free! Read down at the bottom of this post for details!) is really so much fun because you can really customize it a lot!

There are three different lengths: Top, Midi dress and Maxi dress. Even though most testers and sew-along-ists made girl versions, you can very well make boy versions of the top, too. You can use new jersey fabric yardage or, if making a smaller size, upcycle used t-shirts for fabric. And, while this seems most obviously a summer pattern, you can layer the tank over longer sleeves or even make it out of warmer fabric, such as fleece. I’m actually considering making my boy one from an upcycled sweater to layer as a vest over long sleeves, but I still haven’t gotten around to it.

What I did was make a midi-dress for my daughter and a regular top for my son, both using old t-shirts and just a little bit of fabric scraps for the dress’s bindings. And the kids just love their fun new clothes! Those contrasting side panels add such a wonderful pop of color to these shirts!

Something I love about sewing clothing from patterns is that you can customize the sizing. This is fantastic for me because my kids are both very thin, especially my daughter. The biggest problem is with pants because the waists for their sizes are always too wide and by the time they have gotten big enough for their pants to not fall off of them, they’re way too short. But when sewing from a multi-sized pattern, you can choose the right size based on a size chart and then mix-and-match different sizes to get the perfect fit. So my 8-year-old daughter was actually a size 5 for this pattern, although her height would’ve been more for size 7 or 8. So I cut out the midi-dress pattern for size 5, leaving the length as it was (too short for a dress) and ended up with an adorable tunic! (To get the right length, I could’ve pulled the sides of each down to the size 7 or 8 length, but I didn’t do that.)

Here you can see the fabric I used for my daughter’s dress. I wanted it to match her Serger Pepper leggings (pattern available here*), so I used some scraps of the same fabric for the neck and arm bindings. Then I used two hand-me-down men’s XL t-shirts for the remaining fabric.

For my son’s shirt, I used the same black t-shirt for the main fabric and for the side panels and bindings the sleeves left over from the red shirt I used for his Serger Pepper-inspired pajamas from t-shirts.

So adorable! And creating new clothing from cast-offs is always so rewarding! As you can see, the dress is on the short side because I didn’t make the pattern pieces longer, but that’s fine with us because it’s great for layering or trips to the beach. Nicky’s shirt also fits great, although next time I might use the next size up to make it less form-fitting for a boy.

Oh, and another fantastic thing about this pattern? Pockets!!

I hate being without pockets, and I know a lot of people feel the same. The Everyday Tank pattern gives you the option to add in-seam pockets for the midi- or maxi-dress versions, so I made sure to add them to Sofia’s dress/tunic. (By the way, you can see in this picture that I didn’t actually hem the dress because it was already a bit on the short side. So I just overlocked the edges to finish them off more cleanly without sacrificing more length.)

Sofia constantly has her hands in her pockets when she wears this dress!

In case you’re wondering, this is how I fit the pattern pieces of the dress onto the t-shirts. Alas, it hadn’t occurred to me to use the original t-shirt hems for the bottom of my dress, but that would’ve been the most intelligent way to make the skirt.

And this is how I fit the boy’s top pattern pieces on.

And after a bit of easy sewing, this is what I had!

Such a fun and easy sew…

…such cute customized clothing that you can make fit anyone’s tastes!

I love how the tunic looks over the perfectly matching leggings! Of course, I know that it is November, so those of you in the northern hemisphere aren’t looking to sew summer clothing, but you can also make these to layer over other clothing or sew them from heavier fabrics. I saw that one woman even added sleeves to her daughter’s Everyday Tank! So get the pattern* and then just use your imagination!

And guess what? Irene is offering a 40% discount on all of her patterns* until Sunday, November 9, 2014! Just use the coupon code “BLOGTOUR40” at checkout!

As if that weren’t enough, Irene is also giving away this pattern to two lucky people! Enter right below here! (And if you win and have already purchased the pattern, she will give you another one instead.)

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Want a bit of inspiration? Then check out how the other people participating in this pattern tour interpreted this pattern and made it their own!

Monday, 3rd

Veronica @ Sew Very– Karly @ Paisley Roots–

RaeAnna @ Sewing Mama RaeAnna

Jessica @ Snickerdoodle Stew– Pam @ Threading My Way

Tuesday, 4th

Scary/Al @ Shaffaer Sisters– Amy @ Sews N Bows– Melissa @ Rebel and Malice

Deanna @ Sew Mc Cool– Lisa @ Cucicucicoo

Wednesday, 5th

Terra @ Mama Says Sew– Nichole @ Bluebird and the Boy– Ajaire @ Call Ajaire

Sara @ Made By Sara– Annemieke @ Sofilantjes

Thursday, 6th

Bethany @ Two Novembers– Joy @ xoxo Grandma– Courtney @ Sweeter Than Cupcakes

Olga @ Kid Approved– Cassie @ Lily Shine Boutique

Friday, 7th

Becka @ Probably Crafting– Nienke @ Pienkel– Renee @ Two Many

Shelly @ Coral and Co.– Michelle @ Falafel and the Bee

Saturday, 8th

– Bethany @ Wildflower Child Create– Jennifer @ Diary of a MadMama– Sabra @ Sew a Straight Line

Daniela @ On The Cutting Floor– Suzanne @ Winter Wonderings

Sunday, 9th

Magda @ House of Estrela– Shino @ Nutta– Jonie @ Knot Sew Normal
– Kara @ Sweeter Than It Seams

 

And most important of all… have fun!!

*This post contains affiliate links.