Solo Tank Modification – Tween Sizing

It’s that time of the year when my kids clean out their drawers and bring me a list of things they need. My daughter has been growing rapidly this past year and needs quite a few new items. She saw a Greenstyle Creations Solo Tank I made and asked if I could make her some, with coordinating shorts. Since the Solo Tank is only available in women’s sizing, and she isn’t fully in the chart, I knew I would have to do some modifying to make it work. BUT she fell in love with the look so I decided to give it a try.

Her bust and hip are just under the XXS and her waist is in size XS. Since I was familiar with the shape and fit of the shirt, I felt comfortable making her a straight size XXS.

The issue we were going to have was in her height. The Solo is drafted for a height of 5’7″ and she is just 5′. So while it would be too long in general, the low armscye depth would be crazy low on her and for the test version, I decided to remove 3″. I came up with that amount based off the general guideline of 1/2″ for every 1″ difference in drafting height. I then confirmed I wanted her armscye to come up that exact amount, and decided to take the length out there, vs the usual bodice points.

I don’t usually like taking length out in the armscye, because you have to recalculate the bands, and it can also cause neckline/ neckband changes. But in this instance it was a definite need. To try and avoid messing with the neckline, I picked a spot in the middle, making sure it was at least 3″ below the neckline. She wanted the high neckline, which made this even easier.

I cut the pattern apart at my chosen spot, and then measured and marked a spot on the top portion, 3″ up.

I placed the bottom piece, over the top piece, at those 3″ marks.

As you can see, this changes the shape and our armscyce lines no longer match up. I got these little grading tools a while back, and absolutely love them for these kind of adjustments. Makes it so much simpler than trying to free hand the line. I just laid my tool on the pattern, lining up the curve with the original lines, and blended them together like this.

Then I repeated the same steps on the front pattern piece to make them match.

Since I changed the armscye, I also needed to recalculate the binding. I measured the new armscye (24.25″), then multiplied that by 85% (20.6). I like to round my measurements, and the fabric I was using was ITY (very drapy), so I made it an even 20.5″ by the original width of 1.5″.

Before cutting into the test fabric, I also measured the pattern pieces at three spots. The chest, the waist, and the hip. I took the tape measure and made a circle, the amount of each measurement, and held it around her body at those same spots. I did this to make sure I didn’t loose too much width in the specific spots by taking the 3″ out.

Once she tried it on she decided she wanted a little more length than she would have ended up with once hemmed, so I added 1″ back in, in the lower bodice for her other ones. I’m starting to think she carries her height in the same places I do. 🤣

To allow the test version to still be wearable, I just serged the bottom edge instead of doing a traditional hem.

Because of all her rapid growing, she also now fits in the women’s power sports bra pattern, so I surprised her with a matching one to go with each of her new solo tanks and shorts outfits. You can see all three outfits and their details, in this post.

Patterns- Greenstyle Creations Solo Tank
Also Pictured – Greenstyle Creations Power Sports Bra – ON SALE THIS MONTH!!
So Sew English Kids Chelsea Pants / Joggers

AFTER PUBLISHING I FOUND OUT THE SOLO TANK AND KIDS CHELSEA ARE ALSO ON SALE!!