What's a girl to do when she runs out of clothes on a thursday and there's still one whole day of work before the weekend? make a top, or course. or wash some, but where's the fun in that? so i did:
i found that gorgeous butterfly print fabric on a market stall, alongside the plain black, and it called to me. and because that top made me sooo happy yesterday, i decided that today i would tell the world (well, craftster) how to make one too, so you can all be as happy as i was.
the purple thing isn't part of the top, btw. it's another top i was wearing underneath, as the neckline is a bit too porntastic for work! well, for anywhere really. and i like to mix and match my layering. i guess you could just sew a little piece there if you wanted that look, though.
so, are you ready? great. we'll begin.
1. first you need a front. if you want to decorate, now's the time. do fun things to it, or just leave it plain. to cut the v-neck evenly, fold it down the centre, and cut both at once. easy. it should look a little like this. you can use a t-shirt that fits you well as a guide:
2. and now you need a back. that'll look a little like this:
3. right. now you need to sew the shoulders together, right sides together. where the blue line is, to make it easy.
then measure around the neckline. mine was 29". remember that measurement.
4. cut out a rectangle that's an inch shorter than your measurement (so mine is 28") long, and about an inch and a half wide. you can vary the inch and a half if you want a deeper or narrower binding. but all will become clearer later. like so:
5. fold the strip in half lengthways, so it's now really long and really narrow. making sure it's not twisted, sew across the ends at a 45 degree angle. i believe the technical term is mitre. but that's neither here nor there. the raw edges are at the bottom and to the right in my pic:
6. and when you open it out, it should look like this:
7. ok. retrieve your body pieces, and put the strip on top of the neckline, like this:
and stitch a couple of tiny anchoring stiches where the tiny blue blob is. it's not essential, but it makes it a whole lot easier. then you need to make a tiny snip from the point of the v on your shirt up to the anchoring stiches.
still with me? phew. great.
8. twist the strip around so the raw edge lines up with the raw edge of the neckline:
starting at the anchoring stitches, sew them together, about 1/4" from the raw edges. stretch the strip a little as you sew.
9. as you go all the way around, you should end up back at the stitches you started:
joy! the hard part is over
10. turn the shirt the right way around, and it should look like this:
you can leave it like this if you want, it looks pretty cool.
11. or if you're really fancy, you can press the seams to the inside, and topstitch:
12. and remember, if you bollocks it up a bit, or even if you don't, a little bit of decoration goes a long way:
right, now put it on, take a pic, and pimp it about the internet:
button to nominate it!
