a tale of two tops

Lately, I keep seeing the Wiksten tank pop up everywhere. Curious about garment sewing but unsure of my abilities to do so, I decided to give this simple, straightforward, clearly-written pattern a whirl. My only concern was whether its boxy shape would work for my body because, well, boobs - they ruin everything. (Not to mention the post-baby body which has gotten thick around the middle and still doesn't fee quite like my own again. Probably because with nursing, it's not. I'm always hungry because I'm feeding a teeny human every couple of hours.) Honestly, I'm still unsure about the shape & fit on me, but I will say that the pattern is so easy and breezy it was definitely worth giving it a go.

Keeping in mind Carrie's notes on her tank, I cut an XL front and a L back to avoid the gaping at the back of the neck, and that seemed to work. There was no gaping, and the fit was fine. I can see this top getting a good amount of wear this summer, especially due to the lovely linen/cotton blend of the Melody Miller print I used. It is SO comfy.

I decided to make another but switch things up a little. I figured that if I cut the pieces with a couple of extra inches at the center, I would be able to gather that extra fabric and make the top a little bit more like this top from Anthropologie. Uh, yeah, that didn't quite work.

Again, I cut an XL front and L back, gave each part 2 extra inches in the middle for the gathers, made the arms' and neck's bias binding somewhere between the two sizes, stitched the bias binding on the outside instead of the inside, made the neckline higher in the front, and smocked in between 5 rows of tight gathers at the center of the back. If I was to make this again, I would give it an extra inch under the arms but not at the hips, place my gathers at the center of the bust and not any further out, and I would keep the original pattern's neckline. And I would learn to do a proper fancy hand smocking for the back instead of the kind sloppy machine stitched smocking. It's all right from a distance, but if you look at it closely, yikes....

Maybe a couple of darts would have worked better? Perhaps I'll try that next time. Because there may be a next time.... But first I want to try my hand at the Sorbetto tank by Colette.