Tested: DIBY Althea Tank

A couple weeks ago, the Fabric Fairy got in some amazing meshes, and I had to buy up. I honestly wasn’t sure at the time what I would use them for, I just knew they screamed “cool exercise girl” and had to have them for myself. Meshes are everywhere in athletic gear right now- Lululemon even has a whole section on their site called the “mesh shop”, and I was ready to jump on that trend.

When I saw the tester call for the DIBY Althea tank, I decided it would be a great time to put some my purchases to good use in an unexpected way.

I’ve sewn alot of exercise tanks, so I’ll just give you a couple thoughts on what makes the Althea unique:

  • contoured center back seam: This makes stripe matching more challenging, but is great if you have a swayback (wrinkles at the base of your back, caused by a pronounced curve between your back and bottom)>
  • hood: the hood on the Althea isn’t lined- which is great for saving fabric, but easy to change if you prefer a lined hood.
  • deep racerback: the racerback on the Althea is deeper than most of my other tank patterns, and shows off a cute bra pretty well!

 

If I were feeling really confident, I might wear the Althea with just  a sport bra underneath, or layer it as I have here, for a bit more coverage. I think it pairs perfectly with my Super G tights (also made from Fabric Fairy fabric, coincidently. Check out the full Super G Sewalong HERE).

The only thing the hooded Althea lacks, is easy nursing access. Halfway through testing, Jessica added a “deep scoop” version that would make nursing in the Althea possible, so I decided to try that out as well.

This fabric is another one of my vacation-induced purchases from So Sew English, and quite the opposite of my last SSE make (check that out here).

Unfortunately, I only grabbed a yard, so I wasn’t able to match the skulls up perfectly along the back seam- so be aware of that if you choose to use a print.

It bothers me a bit, but I’m trying to get over it, because I really love this tank/fabric combo. What do you think? Is this something that would bug you if you saw someone wearing it? How picky are you with stripe/pattern matching- drop me a comment below!

If you want to grab the Althea, you can find it here (aff link) Thanks for checking out my post- I’d love to stay connected with you on Facebook and Instagram if you have the time!

 

 

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10 Comments

  1. Sherri on July 29, 2018 at 6:49 am

    The tanks look great! I don’t care that the skulls don’t match in the back, that gives it the rtw look haha. Your stripes match perfectly and that is a win!

    • Sarah on July 29, 2018 at 2:13 pm

      So true- RTW is terrible about pattern matching I try to hold myself to a higher standard, but it isn’t always possible. I was happy I was able to match on the striped one though.

  2. Julia on July 29, 2018 at 2:06 pm

    I’ve always been mildly amused by how much people get fixated on pattern matching at seams, especially side seams. I used to be a perfectionist who fixated on those kinds of details, so I do understand where it comes from. But at the same time, I’ve gotten some really interesting, unexpected effects from intentionally not matching patterns across seam lines.

    Knowing that the pattern doesn’t match down the back seam is sort of like knowing where all of the little mistakes are in a self-made garment; nobody else is going to be bothered by it nearly as much as the maker. It’s just a question of whether or not that knowledge actually does anything to assuage our rampant perfectionism! =)

    I love your skull tank and the lemon tank, and I think you’ve successfully sold me on that pattern =D

    • Sarah on July 29, 2018 at 2:12 pm

      Thank you for the reasurrance! How did you get over your perfectionism? I think I’d have an even better time sewing if I could let some of it go. Enjoy the pattern!

      • Julia on July 30, 2018 at 2:56 pm

        It was a two-pronged approach for me: first, I consciously decided not to focus on any issue/error that did not directly affect the functionality of a garment and/or was not readily visible to anyone who had not made the garment. Beyond that, I limited myself to only fixing or messing with 50% of the issues that I noticed. That got me into the mode of really thinking about WHY a particular issue was bothering me and whether it was worth messing with it. The process of thinking about the WHY rather than just the fact that it DID bother me got me to realize how pointless a lot of that perfectionism was.

        I usually tend to overthink things anyway, but at least in this case I was able to make use of it to help break a different bad habit. =)

        • Sarah on September 2, 2018 at 8:49 pm

          Great suggestions! I love how much thought you’ve put into it- we must be a lot alike!

  3. Crystal on July 29, 2018 at 8:50 pm

    Will you do a SAL on this tank? I love your SALs!

    • Sarah on July 29, 2018 at 9:29 pm

      Thanks Crystal! I generally only do SALS for Greenstyle patterns, because I also work with them. However, I do arrange Sew alongs for the Fabric Fairy, so I’ll see what I can do about getting one of those on the books if I can find a host 🙂 Thank you so much for your compliment- I do really enjoy doing them!

  4. Cindy on January 15, 2019 at 6:55 am

    Hi Sarah! I’m thinking of hacking the back overlap version in to a longer version to use as a swim coverup, what do you think? I’ve been admiring this pattern.

    • Sarah on January 16, 2019 at 8:30 pm

      I think that would be beautiful!

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