Charity of TheVinesBranches

My dear friend, and sista from another motha, Charity of The Vines Branches has some super easy and very cute patterns over at Etsy. On her blog, she is giving tutorials for the patterns as well as ideas on how to use the patterns in a way you may not have thought ;)

If you've ever been scared of knit neckbands, Charity gives a great tut below that will have you saying "Oh, I can do that!" ;)


Drum roll please.........(imagine Doris Roberts in Christmas vacation)

So for those of you who have purchased the Seriously ? Easy tank top pattern.... is'nt it crazy how easy and quick it is to create?? I am going to give you an easy tutorial here to use with your pattern, and with just a couple simple changes you can make a ummmm... Normal? tank top instead! :-) Follow all pattern instructions except your raw strips! follow this in the place of that portion of the pattern...


Cut strips of stretchy knit fabric (like jersey or rib knit) 4" long. I usually cut the strips as wide as I can using the entire width of the fabric.


Fold your 4" strips in half, making them 2". Match the raw edges of the strips with the raw edge of one of the the arm openings in your tank top front piece. Pin down all the way accross the arm opening. Once all the way accross trim off what is left to use on the next arm opening!



Go to your machine and stitch in place. I then serge the raw edges, if you do not have access to a serger no problem... just either zigzag or overcast stitch the raw edges with your sewing machine. NOTE... knit fabrics normally do not fray... so if you choose you can leave your edges raw as well! :-)








Now off to the sewing machine again... now you will need to top stitch your seam down... this makes for a much neater and more professional finished look!




Follow these steps with all arm and both neck and bottom openings. Now you will follow all instructions that came in your pattern to construct your top. I have decided to show you another option also... I am going to simply hem the bottom of this tank top instead of using our red band of fabric on the bottom...



I serged the bottom first, all the way around. Next, I folded up 1/2" all the way around. Now Press, and go to the sewing machine! Sew with either a zigzag or a straight stitch (its all in what you like the look of better) And your finshed!



The flower on this tank top was a lot of fun too... I just used strips of a t-shirt that I was using when making a matching skirt! Runched the strips up and stitched on! If you have any quetions OR would like to see a flower tutorial just comment and let me know! :-)

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