Camisole Couture

Every other blouse, shirt, dress, jacket, and sweater in my closet requires a camisole to augment its low neck--and, even worse, every single blouse, shirt, dress, jacket and sweater in the stores requires something to provide coverage (or at least, that's what it seems like to me). Wearing a camisole under a low neckline, however, is a frustrating and fruitless exercise, it seems, because most camisoles themselves are too low, and so I end up "settling" for something less than modest.

I strive to dress modestly not because I am forced to, or must "work" my way into being a good Christian, but because I want to, and because I take joy in beautifully modest clothing, and because I desire to have people focus on my countenance and not my body parts. However, that camisole quandrary? I haven't been so successful at that. You see, my ideal camisole is made of a light, dressy knit somewhat thicker than jersey, with no lining, rising up to the vicinity of my collar bone, and going down to my hips, smooth and close-fitting, but not skin tight. Oh, and did I mention that I refuse to pay more than $15 for one, and I grimace at anything over $10?

It goes without saying that I have not been successful thus far in my camisole quest.

Until last week, when I suddenly got smart and realized: "Why don't I make myself a camisole?" So, off I went to Jo-Ann's Fabrics, where I acquired a suitable pattern (New Look 6571) and a light-weight knit fabric.

Over the weekend, I put together the camisole with adjustments here and tweaks there, and I thought I would take you along in case you want to try your hand at this easy creation!

Prep: Although you'll probably have enough fabric, you might want to get between 1/8 to 1/4 of a yard of extra fabric beyond what the pattern calls for, because you will be adding length and height to the camisole. Don't forget to wash your fabric in order to preshrink it! When sizing your camisole, I suggest going to at least the size below your measured size (but remember that dress size and pattern size are entirely different entities, so do measure yourself). By my measurements, I would have been a pattern size 12, but I ended up making a size 8, and it turned out just to my taste--not too tight, and not too loose. Before you cut the pattern pieces out of the paper, add some height to the front piece (I did about 1" this time, but I think I will do 2" next time) and some length to the front and back pieces (I added 3 3/8" this time, but I will do at least 4" next time) and shorten the long straight piece (your future straps) by 1 to 1 1/2" (take the length out of the middle instead of one of the ends, or you will mess up the markings on the pattern piece that you are supposed to transfer to your fabric).

Now, lay everything out according to the layout guide in the pattern, match the grainline to the selvages, pin, and cut!

If you have a stitch on your machine for stretch fabrics, then use it. Otherwise, a zigzag stitch or a regular straight stitch (sewn while stretching out the fabric) can substitute--experiment with what looks best and follow your machine's guidelines for needle size.



Now, it's as easy as sewing up the back and side seams, hemming the neckline, and sewing each strip together and pressing one end under to create a binding.


Pin your binding to the armholes, stretching it to match the dots to the armhole edge, and sew. Press the binding over the raw armhole edge and press the binding above the armhole to create a finished strap. Sew it up! (The stretch stitch did not work well for me on this step, so I am contemplating using a regular straight stitch next time, since there is enough thicknesses of fabric to keep the whole thing secure.)

The hem is as easy as can be; since knit fabric doesn't fray easily, you just have to fold the bottom up once and sew it!




Next time I make it to the fabric store, I'm going to pick up some lace to add to the neckline. Other than that, however, my camisole is finished! I plan to make my next one a bit longer and a bit higher, but overall, I am very pleased with the end product. The total cost (not counting lace) was $6.96, but the next cami will be $4.00 cheaper, because I will be able to reuse the pattern. $3 to $7 is right in my price range! So what are you waiting for?