Remnant-busting Salme Cami

Does anyone hate remnants as much as I do? Not big enough to make anything worthwhile but also not so small you can feel fine about tossing them in the trash — they take up space in your sewing room/tiny New York apartment, but you spent your hard-earned fabric funds on acquiring them in the first place....a sewer's conundrum.

Hopefully you have a few patterns that let you put your remnants to good use. My new fave is Salme's Double-Layer Cami, which I previously made from an upcycled dress in cotton voile. Because you know what? Though the pattern calls for you to make both layers from the same fabric, you totally don't have to. You could bust through two scraps to create a single, wearable top. And by adding a ponte band on the bottom you can turn it from cami into slightly sportier tank. Boom. Stash, busted:

Looking at the photos above, you might notice the neckline lays much flatter in my second, striped iteration of this tank pattern. I took out a little excess in the neckline by rotating it into the bust dart. My pattern modification worked perfectly:

I used up the annoying piece of fabric that remained after making Pattern Runway's Short Sleeve Kimono Dress. My one other small modification was the black ponte band at the hem. Not only does it add some visual interest (and length), it also saved me from hemming two layers of this poly (I serged the band onto the two layers even though for some strange reason my poor serger just hated it). Boom. Annoying task, averted.

I like this top, with its darts, neckline and spaghetti straps (though I am not in love with actually making spaghetti straps).

You know what else I am not wild about? Taking photos in my building's hallway when my neighbors are coming up the stairs:

That's the face I make when I want to alert my husband to the fact that this photo shoot is over. Like, Boom. Over.

So what's your favorite pattern for using up remnants? Do you make toddler tees until your scraps are in tatters? Headbands? Coffee cup holders?

Pattern Review: Salme Patterns' Double-layer Camisole

Don't you hate how your favorite TV characters never repeat their outfits? (I'm not talking about the Sex and the City ladies; the most unrealistic thing on that show was the fact that New Yorkers would walk four abreast down a busy sidewalk. Everyone knows only tourists and middleschoolers do that).

Displaying my daily me-made wardrobe this May has me actually caring about week-over-week repeats. I could just wear what I had on yesterday (oh look! It's still here on the floor where I left it!) but I won't because it seems gauche to re-gram the same selfie. Looking at my grid of pics on Instagram is a good push to dig through the far reaches of my closet for those items I've sewn and then never worn.

Simplicity 1872 is one such project. Sewn at the behest of Kollabora.com when it first launched, I was never really thrilled with this dress. The flare on the skirt was unevenly distributed, creating too much fullness right at the sides (I have drafted many skirts so I could tell by how it hung that the flare wasn't evenly distributed). I have enough fullness on my hips, thankyouverymuch. I do like the bodice but that sleeve gathered with elastic is just two precious for me:

So in an effort to avoid wearing yet another Scout Tee or Tiny Pocket Tank, I turned this dress into two tops this week. Numero Uno, an easy peplum top, which retained the bodice and an underneath piece that had been attached to one layer of the skirt:

And Salme Patterns' Double-layer Camisole:

This is the first Salme Pattern that I have worked with though I've been lurking her shop for some time. I completely adore how it turned out and was high-fiving myself for the fact that I was able to squeeze this tank out of the remaining yardage from my pillaged skirt. Her guidelines suggest you only need 5/8 yard for this top, and she's right. I used even less, I think, because I raised the waistline by two inches (I had no choice due to fabric limitations — and also, I am quite short-waisted). 

This top comes together so easily: you sew the outer layer to the inner layer with the straps sandwiched between, which finishes the neckline all around. The little spaghetti straps are easy to make (though in this lightweight voile they feel pretty skimpy, which worries me that they will not last). The darts are nicely placed. The only change I think I would make is to pinch out some excess along the front neckline. It gapes a little, but that excess can be rotated into the dart the same way that I did it with Burda's Cap Sleeve Dress (another dress I never wear but that's another story!) 

 

One thing about Salme Patterns: you have to add your own seam allowances, which I am fine with. In fact, I think it's a good idea; depending on how you plan on finishing your seams, you may want a different size seam allowance. (Also, it makes it easier to edit a pattern when you are not also mucking around in seam allowances.)

But for a beginning sewer, I think that would be a deal-breaker. I can just imagine the blank stares I'd get if I told my sewing students that they had to add seam allowances.....(crickets).

So there it is: one unworn dress transformed into two wearable tops — and two more days of no-repeat Me Made May! How have you turned a dud DIY into something you can actually wear? And can you think of a TV character (other than Wonder Woman) who wore the same thing more than once?