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After having sewn a corduroy skirt that screamed Autumn, I’m back with a sunny summer top.
Santorini* is a woven tank top that features a side button placket and beautiful princess seams.
Let’s check this new Itch to Stitch pattern.
- Santorini pattern*
- Woven fabric
- Adequate fusible interfacing
- 5 buttons (diam. 1.25 mm)
Santorini, Summer’23 top
I’ll be honest and say that, once I had applied for testing the Santorini* top, I regretted it. I had second thoughts about the shape of the top and the fact it was sleeveless (and my arms are missing in training!).
But I’m really happy I tested it now!
Santorini* is meant for wovens like poplin or linen.
It features princess seams front and back and it has a cute side button placket.
The inside is clean-finished thanks to facings and the use of the famous burrito roll method. I made a blogpost and a video about that amazing sewing method for clean finish.
Santorini* is a PDF-only pattern, going from US00 to 40 (with cups ranging from A to DD).
Sherbet Lemon in Santorini
I cut a size 4B for graded to 6 at waist and hips.
I chopped 6 cm on the total length (3 cm at each L/S line) because such a length was not falterrign at all on me.
Kennis gives detailed instructions on how/where to shortent/lengthen, but since there are princess seams and I had to quite drastically cut the legnth, it tool me some time to get it right and have nice gradings.
I have two main reasons to be wary concerning tank tops:
- neckline gaping at the shoulder
- too long shoulder line
The lovely curved hem is a narrow hem as well. And it gave me a headache because I was lazy and didn’t baste it first! There are many layers where the princess seams intersect the hem and basting by hand would have saved me time.
So, don’t be as lazy as I was, and baste your hem by hand.
Sunny Santorini
I chose this viscose-linen blend from the summer mystery box I had bought last year.
I wasn’t sure about yellow against my skin, but this lovely pale yellow is nice.
The fabric being a bit see-thourgh, you may notice the seam allowances and facings underneath.
Santorini* looks great with a skirt too. Here its worn with a Taroko* skirt (pattern by Itch to Stitch as well).
Buttons are mother-of-pearl buttons. I debated using larger ones because the button placket was rather wide, but they may have caught some skin under the arm.
The shirttail hem is great for lenthening the legs. This top will be in constant rotation! It’s a great change from knit tank tops. It’s more flattering than a boxy knit top.
I could fine-tune the fit a bit more by shortening the shoulder length and center back upper width (-0.5 cm). But this is because I’m a bit picky with woven tops!