Wholecloth: Short, Shorter, Shortest: 3 Cropped Mandy Boat Tees

Looking for the most bang for my very limited sewing time, I made a trio of the Tessuti Fabrics Mandy Boat Tee. The Mandy is a super simple knit top with perfectly relaxed proportions. The swingy body, snug arms, and collarbone sweeping neckline make it my wardrobe refresh garment of the moment. There are 2 sleeve lengths included in this FREE! pattern. I made size 2 (small/medium) for all 3 tops. I added 1" to the 3/4 length option. The prescribed hem length is around hip length. I cropped mine at 3 different lengths to in search of my crop top ideal with high waisted pants.

Short

Let's start with the short (which is actually the longest) top. This exercise was meant to be a bit of a length experiment. I knew I wanted cropped tees, but I wasn't quite sure how cropped. I was hedging my bets with the first top and cropped it 5". I pinned up this version to test drive the shorter lengths. After wearing it for a while, I think this one has scissors in it's future. It's a bit too long for what I had in mind.

I'm wearing this Mandy with my very favorite self-drafted linen pants.

Shorter

After trying on the Short version, I cut 2 more inches off the next Shorter top (shortened 7" total). I LOVE this length. It is clearly within the crop top trend but is still totally wearable, and covers all the bits of fairly modest me. This is definitely my cropped Mandy sweet spot. I'm not temped to tuck it in, and it works with my vast collection of high waisted pants and shorts. This will definitely be a warm weather staple. The navy and white stripe cotton jersey is (sold out) from Blackbird Fabrics.

I'm wearing this Mandy with some self-drafted linen shorts I made a few summers ago.

Shortest

The Shortest top is actually the inspiration for the crop top exercise. I wanted to play with the clashing and coordinating qualities for the burgundy, crimson, and peach of the tencel skirt, and cotton jersey shirt fabrics. I also wanted the top to show a bit of the narrowest part of my waist to get the proportions that I wanted. I think the proportion and color results are spot on. I love the hint of narrow waist juxtaposed with the exaggerated width of the top. The thing I forgot to consider is what is just above this extra high waisted skirt, my boobs! In truth it falls a little short (pun intended) on the wearability scale. I worry I'm just a gentle breeze away from a wardrobe malfunction. I'll certainly wear it with this super high waisted skirt (and a presentable bra), but not with other pants. I think I have enough fabric to make another, slightly longer, one. And I'm not above making or owning 2 nearly identical shirts.

I'm wearing this Mandy with the self-drafted skirt from a couple posts ago. The crimson and peach cotton jersey is from Blackbird Fabrics. The tencel twill skirt fabric is from Fabric.com.