Hello! today I thought I would share with you something I did last week on a Fair Isle tank top I’ve had for years and never worn.
I got it second hand (shock horror) but it was brand new with tags, originally from Laurence J Smith which is now Shetland Woollen Company, a knitwear company from Hoswick that mainly make knitwear for export.
The issue I had was it was too long, not long enough to be attractive but too long to fold up into a cropped style so I decided to shorten it, I used my Roosty tank top as a guide and set it on top to work how much much I needed to remove. I wanted to keep the rib in tact and use it so that also factored into how much I was taking out.
The tank top is machine knit, in two pieces. I found the seam which was a thick black sewing thread for some reason (usually it’s linked in wool) and separated the two sides up to where I needed to:
Then I picked up one leg of a (plain) row, the first row of the green peerie motif. I then snipped the yarn from the row below and removed it by pulling out the row below stitch by stitch leaving me with the live stitches on the needle.
I did the same above the first motif from the bottom which included the rib and then grafted it together!
I used shade 54 from J&S for the grafting which is a similar dark grey – it’s not a perfect match but I dare you to try and see it! The resulting top is now perfect for wearing with all my high-waisted breeks.
This style of tank top is one I avoided for years, I could never find a way to wear a v-neck but I have a few and have been wearing them this summer with a tshirt underneath, it was a quick fix that took a couple of hours and took it from unwearable (for me) to totally wearable.
I hope you like it, speak soon!
ella gordon 
Such a valuable lesson with great directions! I appreciate the time it took you to document this skill and post it. Most sincerely,
lynn
It’s a beautiful slipover, glad you could make it work for you. I always like v-necks. Your photos are very clear too so that’s quite helpful.
Hi!It’s good to see you survived Wool Week. Thank you for the tutorial
What a good, clear, well illustrated lesson for us – thank you, Ella.
Nice hack Ella, looks good on you. First thought.
Second thought – Aaaarrrggh! All. That. Grafting.
Third thought – wouldn’t have to do that. Don’t do cropped styles!
>
I love it! A very fashionable length now and your grafting skills are excellent, well done.
Brilliant Ella! I too love cropped tops with wide legged linen breeks so have done similar with thrift shop finds.
clever you!! It looks great.
you’ve done a great job, Ella.
Looks fabulous!
you’ve done a great job, Ella.
Looks fabulous!
Well done!
Lovely – I use much the same way myself when I need to adjust my knits – waste not want stuff my mum used to say
Great job, Ella, and no surprise. Now you’ve got something to wear and enjoy!
Fantastic!
I’ve used this same technique to rescue 2 beloved sweater dresses that suffered snags/holes to the upper thigh & bottom area.
I now have 2 repurposed, and now wearable, sweaters. Way-2-Go us textile upcyclers :)