I was surprised while shopping this weekend, that in racks and racks of undergarments, not one camisole was to be found. Not one. And when I asked the young sales clerk where the camisoles are, she looked at me like I asked her where I can find pink and yellow polka dot elephants. Do young people not know what a camisole is? Or is there a new name for what I'm looking for?
Basically, I'm looking for a garment to wear under my clothes to replace my bras.
And I'm not looking for a sports bra or Spanx® product (fifty bucks for a Spanx® camisole and no information on the fibre content!). I want something in cotton. I want to be comfortable in my clothes. Period. Why is it so hard to find a simple camisole in the stores and why is important information lacking online?
If you can't find it, make it. Last night I looked through my sewing patterns and came across out-of-print Kwik Sew 3645 which worked out just fine.
OOP Kwik Sew 3645 is actually a sleepwear pattern and designed for woven fabrics. I traced out the pattern in a smaller size and used a camisole I already have to come up with a shape I hoped would work for knits. I like the undershirt vibe with the shoulder straps and it's cotton and comfortable. Win! Instead of cutting out the pattern piece for seam binding, it was serged and turned down 1/4" before top-stitching in place.
The fabric is a medium weight cotton knit that has been in the stash for many, many moons. It's the same fabric used for this project from a couple of years ago. It was previously pre-treated with a tumble through the wash and drying cycles.
Project details
Seams: Serged
Fabric: 0.5 metres
Pattern: OOP Kwik Sew 3645
Additional Tools & Supplies: Cutting table, tracing paper, pencil, paper scissors, fabric scissors, assorted objects used as pattern weights, Janome sewing machine, cotton thread, Janome serger, polyester threads, thread clippers and coffee.
Happy Sewing!
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I think it is referred to as a tank nowadays :) I need to make me some nice ones because most stores sell inferior products made by slave labor Grrr...
ReplyDeleteYes! Tank top that's it, lol. I was looking for a camisole in the traditional skinny strap made out of cotton jersey, but couldn't find it in the stores here. I agree, I'm also not impressed with the quality of products found in the RTW market. The Kwik Sew pattern was the closest pattern to a camisole I found in the stash. I have my eye on OOP McCall's 349 a pajama set pattern that has a camisole pattern included. And I did find that I have OOP Butterick 6031 (spotted later) in the pattern collection I could give a try. Stay tuned, there might be more camisole coming off the sewing machine.
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