A Peacock Tank

I've been playing around with a lot more woven fabrics at the moment and I've been trying to create a basic tank pattern.  After a couple of disasterous draping attempts I decided that rather than reinvent the wheel I'd start with a free tank pattern and decided on the Sorbetto Tank from Collette.  I knew that there were a few issues with the pattern but I also knew that I was going to have to do a lot of adjustments anyway so just decided to start with that.

To begin the process I used a piece of satin left over from making a pajama set for my mum. As I was limited with fabric I eliminated the front pleat.

I cut the sorbetto to a size 12 all around and then basted it together and tried it on.  Quite a few modifications were required.  Once I was happy with my modifications I trimmed all the seam lines down, took everything apart and compared it to the pattern.

The shoulders and neckline were cut to about a size 6.  On the back piece I graded between a 6 under the arms, a 12 at the waist and a 10 at the hips.  On the front piece I graded between 10 under the arms, 8 at the waist and 12 at the hips.

Of course I couldn't leave it there though. I decided to try and make the pattern into a cross over top. I made the back neckline into a shallow V  and brought the front neckline down from the shoulder to about 3" across the center line.

To make the shirt I used a peacock fabric that I picked up at Walmart of all places.  I've noticed that my local Walmarts have started stocking Pellon interfacing really cheaply and I wanted to pick some up and I saw this fabric on the shelf.  I  have a love affair going with peacocks and couldn't resist buying this.

 I used a 1.5" band folded over and clean finished to complete the front and back necklines and 1" facings on the armhole that I turned under and stitched down.  After trying on the shirt the cross over gaped quite a bit so in the end I top stitched the whole neckline down.

I added a 3" band to the bottom of the shirt, but after trying it on decided I didn't like that length.  Rather than take it all apart I just turned the band up and stitched it in place. I like the way the extra weight makes the shirt hang.

I love the way the shirt feels.  Its cool and airy and very comfortable so I find myself reaching for it quite a bit.  I just need to make more shorts to match it!

It looks from these pictures like I need to do a few modifications to the back piece - it seems to be pulling up in the center a bit.