Seamwork Magazine: Savannah Camisole

 

First post of 2016 and I’m starting with the basics- the Savannah Camisole from Seamwork.

I decided that this year I’m (re)building my wardrobe from the inside out- with as much Me Made as possible. After stumbling into the Colette Wardrobe Architect, I decided it was time to get started. Over the course of a couple weeks I set to work on the Wardrobe Architect worksheets and exercises (which you can see in my Pinterest board!) and have already started to see the gaps in my closet that need to be filled, STAT!

First project of the year starts in the underpinnings section, with Seamwork Magazine’s Savannah camisole. Why? My old camisoles were purchased from a certain fast fashion chain and are falling apart. I want to toss them all and replace them with something more beautiful to wear under my cardigans.

The Savannah camisole was luckily just what I needed: a basic that could be played up or down.

With this version of the Savannah I hand stitched lace appliqués and that was absolutely time consuming… but it came out wonderfully. It was also my first opportunity to work with lingerie hardware, which after trial and error I recommend sewing by hand.

I also worked on an un-pictured black version with stretch lace.

Happily, this pattern didn’t need any crazy changes to it to make it work. For my versions, I graded between two sizes for the bust and waist measurements and sewed, no problem.

Seamwork patterns are advertised as sewing up in a day- designed to be quick and easy whip up in a few hours. Did Savannah sew up in the estimated time of two hours? By the time I got to the second version, it did. The red camisole definitely took longer because of the appliqués, but now that I know the pattern I can see myself making it super quickly at a moment’s notice. The trickiest part is honestly just getting the fabric cut properly on the bias.

I definitely recommend working with the Savannah camisole pattern, though, especially if you’re trying to replace some old undershirts that are just not cutting it anymore.