Do you read Faye’s Sewing Adventure? Of course you do. If you do it’s because like me, you are constantly wondering what this prolific blogger is up to. Even if she’s just writing a line or two, Faye always manages to ask engaging questions, and she generously responds. When she announced her Tops that Pop sew along, I had to join in. Many of my tees are getting ratty, and though my time is feeling a bit limited right now, you can almost always sew up a top in a few spare minutes here and there.
I may or may not get to making another top before the April 30th deadline. Even if I don’t, I’m glad I forced myself to fix this tee that I really do love.
I completely cheated.
I admit that my first top here I cheated quite a lot in that it’s a top I just altered to fit me. It’s a sewing machine print kimono sleeve tee from an Etsy seller.
To my credit I asked her if she had the fabric for sale, but I guess somehow she had it made specifically for the tees. It turns out, that she now offers the fabric on Spoonflower (she didn’t at the time, though at Spoonflower prices, you might as well just buy the ready-made shirt). I forgot about it, and my husband bought it for my birthday last year. The fit was quite generous, but at the time, I had just had my daughter. I found it in the laundry last week and decided it was time to get it to fit me properly.
Quick fix
20 minutes with a marker, my French curve and some pins got me an approximate fit which I refined with a row of stitching. I serged off the excess seam allowance when I was happy with the fit and buried my thread tails at the hem. In total, I took out more than 6″ from the waist. Although it’s a basic, quick fix, I’m glad to have this as a tee I’ll actually wear, and boy, does this fabric pop for sure!
You have until April 30th to sew up any type top you’d like and email Faye a picture. The details are in the links above. Sew something fun!
Elizabeth Farr is the writer behind the Elizabeth Made This blog where she shares helpful sewing tips, step by step sewing tutorials and videos to help you explore your creativity through sewing. She has written sewing Eguides and patterns, been a featured teacher at Rebecca Page’s Sewing Summit and Jennifer Maker’s Holiday Maker Fest and her work has appeared in Seamwork and Altered Couture magazines. She also created a line of refashioned garments for SEWN Denver. When her sewing machine isn’t humming, she’s playing and teaching violin, and hanging around a good strategic board game with her husband and 4 kids.
I don’t think this counts as cheating. There was still some fabric cutting and sewing involved. LOL. But I do love this fabric though and will see if I can swing a yard of it next month (you know you have to plan for spoonflower purchases). I really like how chic the print really looks and easy to dress up or down too.
I’ve never bought anything from Spoonflower, but I would have bought this if it’d been available when I got the shirt. I’d love to see it sewn up in other styles. It is fun fun fun.
What if I never signed up but am making a top? Uhmmmmm…I might just email it to her anyway!
I’m sure she would add you to the list.
This is so not a cheat! Refashions definitely count and you have created a beautiful top. I’ll bet sewer wishes they had that fabric.
Yay! I’m planning at least one more maybe two, but if the creek does indeed rise (as in Lord willing and the creek don’t rise), I’m so glad I could join in the fun.
LOVE this tee! I think every sewist needs one. And don’t feel bad about “cheating”… as long as you put a needle and thread to it, you made it!
I’m glad I can finally wear it. It took 20 minutes to fix. Why did I wait so long? Faye said it’s not a cheat too, so I’m thrilled!
I find it’s harder to start refashions or alter existing clothing than starting from scratch. I had to take in my Winslow Culottes because they are supposed to sit at the natural waist and mine were much lower. They sat in my sewing room for about 3 months and I finally got around to ripping them apart and putting them back together – which didn’t take me as long as I thought it initially would at all. Now I just have to re-hem them and alas, they’re still sitting in my sewing room… LOL!
I hate it when projects that lose steam like that! On the other hand, sometimes it’s nice to have a couple of them for those days when you want to get something done but can’t commit to a bigger project.