Fitted tank from souvenir T-shirt

I found this wonderful XL, souvenir T-shirt from Washington D.C. at my local Goodwill. I thought it would be perfect to make a hand-stitched tank top found in Natalie Chanin's second book, Alabama Studio Style. 


(If you're interested, http://www.amazon.com/Alabama-Studio-Style-Celebrating-Sustainable/dp/1584798238)

I decided to dye the shirt Orchid because I thought it would contrast nicely with the gold colors in the image.

Next, I cut the pieces out for the fitted tank. I had just enough fabric from the XL T-shirt to squeeze out all the pattern pieces. XXL T-shirts are actually more suitable for this project.

The entire garment is hand-stitched. I settle in on the couch and get myself in a mediative state of mind when I'm ready to begin stitching. I decided to use red thread for the seams and gold thread for the neckline and armholes. I always use contrasting thread on these projects as the hand-stitching is part of the design, and should be featured rather than blended in.

Here's the finished tank. My favorite model wasn't around for me to photograph wearing the top for this post.