Sewing A Top From Leftover Fabric

Hello everyone, I’m so excited to share with you all this simple top I sewed. I knew the top was simple and thought I was going to have a simple process, it turned out to be one of the most chaotic tops I’ve ever made.

I got an invitation to a hangout and the theme was “wear you”. Everyone thought I was going to wear crochet but I decided to surprise them. I had already seen @glorydee make that beautiful dress so I figured why not make the top of that dress. I chose that top because it explains my personality. It’s simple and fragile. The neck part is what makes it fragile. If you don’t tie it as you should, it’s going to open and that would mean disaster.

Knowing how simple the top was, I asked my mom for the leftover of her fabric she used a while back. She was hesitant at first because she said it was just about a quarter of half and wasn’t sure I could make anything out of it. I asked her to rather give it to me to experiment than to throw it away. I intended to use an hour to make this top but I used over 7 hours because the machine wasn’t giving nice stitches at some point and I had to sew some parts with thread and needle. Yes, that’s how determined I was.

The materials I used were;
• Fabric leftover
• a pair of scissors
• measuring tape
• pen (improvision)

I started by folding the top into four using my bust measurement and 2 inches allowance. I then measured the bust point and marked the armhole. I was so careful not make any mistake and my mom couldn’t stop laughing. She said if you’re too careful when sewing, you might miss some details so I should just relax. Well, I didn’t listen and I made that mistake.

I measured a wrong armhole but I found out later. After cutting the front and back of the top, I proceeded to sew them together from the armhole. This where I realized I made a mistake with the armhole. I then added about an inch and cut the armhole down. It was still small for me and at this point I was so frustrated. My mom said the sewing machine can sense if I’m frustrated so I better relax if not, it won’t sew well.

I don’t know if this is true or she just wanted me to relax but guess what? That was when the machine started sewing bad stitches so I took a break and then used my hand to sew the neck part. For that part, I just folded the top part in an inch and the sewed it to make a channel for the belt for the neck to pass through. After using thread and needle, I tried the machine and it was still not perfect.

I moved to the belt for the neck. I tried with the machine and it wasn’t perfect but my hand was hurting at that point so I had to manage with it. I cut about 2 inches of the fabric and then sewed them together across length inside out. I then used a safety pin to bring the hood side out. I then passed it through the channel for the neck.

I folded the armhole and the bottom of the top and sewed them separately to secure and prevent them from fraying.

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Gallery

When I started the top, my mom said she was going to be with throughout the process, but along the line she went to take a nap and she woke up to see me wearing the top. She smiled and said she knew I was going to be able to figure it out with or without her. I’m glad I didn’t give up because I almost did when the machine was sewing something different. Cheers to more sewing projects! Thank you for your time.

Images are mine
Grids were done with photogrid

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