Making Short Tops

As I mentioned in my Poison Ivy Cosplay post, I have started making my own tops regularly.

I've laid out a few examples below of how a single, bought top has been patterned to make others.

This is the original top, and it is polyester with some stretch in it:

It is almost a bat-wing top, not too fitted, and loose at the bottom rather than clingy.

This is the basic pattern that I cut from it: 

And this is the Poison Ivy top that I made, using cotton poplin:

A lot of blue has come into my wardrobe lately, so I wanted a top to go with a couple of plainer skirts. I had this fabulous fabric in my stash from Babbarra Women's Centre, in Maningrida community, Northern Territory. It was a gift that I had hung up to display for several years, reluctant to cut into it. But now was the time, and wearing art is certainly a good way to get it out in the world. 

I cut the front and back pieces, and overlocked all of the edges, including the armholes and neckline (tricky to overlock curves!). 

I sewed the darts in the front (two skinny triangles that give the front shape to fit your figure). 
I have to admit to guessing / eyeballing these, rather than sitting down with dressmakers chalk and marking them exactly the same on both sides...

Once the darts were done I sewed the back and front together at the sides and the seams on the top of the shoulders. 

I had a little bit of the fabric leftover, but when I laid it down to use as trim on the arm holes it was too much. I found the blue flower fabric in my stash and made two small tubes long enough to fit around the arm holes. I sewed them down, and used a third tube to bind the neckline. 

The finished product! It's a bit lairy for some people, but I'm rather fond of it. It reminds me of biology and cells.

Following on from my success with the blue print, I found another piece of fabric that I had again been too reluctant to cut into. This one was cotton as well, and was a gift from a friend in Japan when I lived there. I absolutely love cherry blossoms - sakura - and miss them. Aren't they fabulous?

Anyway, back to the top. I had less than 1 metre of fabric to use, which just wasn't enough. So I added some pink cotton on either side, so that I had enough width to work with.

I cut my front and back out, overlocked and darted again, and sewed the two pieces together. 

Luckily I had enough fabric leftover to make sleeves. I used a dress pattern that had nice bell sleeves, and cut them as long as I could. I overlocked the edges and hemmed the bottom of the sleeves, and attached them.

The final touch was the neckline, and this stumped me for a couple of days.

Not enough of the fabric left to use, unless I pieced a lot of small scraps together. And this would show all of those seams.

Pink was too much. I'm not that into pale pink.

Finally I spotted a green velvet ribbon hanging out of a box on my desk and a lightblub went off in my head. I didn't have thread to match perfectly, so I ended up hand sewing the ribbon on to disguise the stitches.

So from one $15.00 top, I now have three more. Not bad hey? :)