Hm. I ‘finished’ my top yesterday, but it is not quite what I want it to be. I almost love it, but I don’t love it. Maybe you can help me troubleshoot.
The issue is that I wanted to avoid putting in a zipper (because lazy / out of practice), but also wanted it loose enough to slip over my head. With cotton / linen, this is not so easy — and it turned out I didn’t even own something I could use as a template, because all my tank tops are either jersey or rayon-ish — stuff with a drape.
I was prepared for a boxy cut, and that’s fine, but the problem is that it’s really much too big right at the base of the arm holes, so it gapes hugely there when I wear it. I think I could essentially make some kind of pleat or gather fairly easily for the linen panels at the sides, to address that — but then I worry that I wouldn’t be able to get it on over my head.
The one possible solution I’ve come up with so far that might look nice is lacing — I was thinking I could take some twill tape (I have a lot on hand, due to the mask making), make a bunch of little loops, where the linen meets the cotton, down the length of it. And then with perhaps a gold cord or ribbon, it’d be possible to put it on, and then tug on the ribbons to gather it?
But that is a very fussy solution — I think I’d have to unpick the seams, sew in all those twill tape loops, sew them up again — and then needing to re-do the ribbons every time would be a bit of a disincentive to actually wearing it. Maybe okay for a special occasion top, but I was hoping for something I could casually throw on for easy summer wear.
I even thought about putting a little pleat and snap right under the armpits, which would address the gaping, but a) that seems sort of goofy, and b) I’ve never seen it done on a top. Maybe I should just give up and do a zipper, so I don’t have to worry about difficulty pulling it on, and can then unpick the side linen panels, cut them to be narrower, and re-sew them?
Maybe there’s a reason why I didn’t have a bunch of cotton tank tops in my closet already. But is there a simple solution I’m missing?
