Hiya, friends! In my part of the Southern US we’re now doing nice and cool 90 degrees daily. Read all the way down to see a couple of items from Tory Burch’s Spring 2023 line.

Time to make a final hot weather top. A chic little bird told me that a white knit tank top has taken a hold in the fashion crowd. You know the top —- it used to be in the men’s undershirt drawer. There’s this article in Vogue where an editor talks about it, and her favorite brand, etc., etc. I can’t find a link to it, but here’s a photo of the magazine page.

But hey, we make our own versions of the basic white tank, right? Here’s mine.

It’s cut on the bias grain, except for the placket; the placket was totally unnecessary because the top goes on easily without an opening due to wonders of the bias grain. I added the neck placket just to have a detail on the plain white, and being a sucker for making more work for myself.

You’re going to ask me this, so here is the pattern info: I used a 20 year old bias tank dress as a pattern — the dress got stashed all these years because it looked outdated and I grew wider than the bias grain could hold BUT I loved this dress and the print. It got saved for refashioning purposes. It fits me well again, may I say. The pattern tissue was discarded eons ago, so for the white linen top, I traced out the front and back of the dress on paper, gave it seam allowances, a bit of a flared shape beginning below the bust point, and here we are.

One tip for using an actual garment on paper: measure the finished dress front and back separately and accurately; measure the traced outline front and back to see if they match (before adding seam allowances). What will you measure? Bustline, shoulder width, shoulder seams and the armhole circumference. I did not require below-bust measurements since I flared out my tunic; but you must if you want the exact shape.

Okay, two tips: there are many classes available which can help if you want to knock off your old but well-fitted garment. Those methods require more of a “process” that must be gone through, and work out beautifully for jackets, jeans and things that have details to be incorporated. That much work was unwarranted for the simple lines of my project. Try Kenneth King’s class on PatternReview.com, or borrow a book from the library authored by Stephanie Lincecum titled Pattern Making For a Perfect Fit: Using the Rub-off Technique. I have taken Kenneth King’s class, but have not used Stephanie’s rubbing off method – yet.

It being New York Fashion Week and all, want to see some fashion ideas? The Vogue Runway website is the way to go —- and I’m not doing PR for them. I just spend a good amount of what remains of my life there. What throws me into fits of amusement is that NY Fashion Week is showing Spring 2023 collections, and in the southern US, we can wear (or be inspired by) those ideas right now! I don’t have to wait for Spring 2023 to make and wear something similar.

I am intrigued by how Tory Burch adapted the quintessential hip shape of the New Look 1947 Dior jacket to her own vest, worn over a long skirt with sarong vibes.

The 1947 Dior jacket was famously padded at the hips to give the perfect hourglass shape; I’d love to look inside a Tory Burch vest. They appear to be zipped up until you look closely; I believe it’s a hooks and eyes closure all the way.

Some skirts have a wrapped bottom-half-of-a-sari look — they may be called lehengas. A lehenga is a generic term for any skirt-like formation worn as a bottom; it’s a dirndle if you want it translated to western languages. I would say, these sarong like skirts resemble the ones worn by Southeast Asian folks, rather than an Indian sari, although one of them is made with sari material.

Hoping fervently to post another friendly post next week. But, who knows….

All the best to you and yours 🙂 ……. Samina