A Cloned Summer Top

Well it is not Summer yet but I decided I needed a fun little sewing project that would sew up fairly quick. I bought the fabric for this top in Phoenix in February. It was a small irregular shaped remnant but I love the print and my friend Kim who was shopping with me talked me into getting it. I figured it would make a simple Summer tank top.

I found a similar top on Pinterest that was a tank shape with a curved hem that had a ruffle around the bottom. Humm..................I don't really need a pattern to do that ruffle. I was just hoping that I would be able to get creative with the cutting layout to be able to get the top I envisioned out of the piece of fabric.

I decided I could draft a pattern for this top as I figured I just needed a tank and I would figure it out from there.

This is a simple little tank top that really fits me nicely. It was actually made from a cloned top I had 25 years or so ago. I cloned that top years ago so this top is also about 25 years old and I still wear it. I did change the bottom and did a curved shape. I have no idea where the original drafted pattern is so I just drafted a new one. I decided where I wanted the ruffle to start and did a curve from the center down to the sides. The center front is 6 inches higher than the center back.

Here are the two pattern pieces. Pretty simple. I just made sure that the side seams matched up. The smaller one is the front.

The finished top came out really nicely. I had to be creative to piece the ruffle and just used what I had. The ruffle finishes at 6" long. I encased the seam that had the ruffle in some seam lace that I had in my stash. The black color does not show from the front so I figured I would use it to give the seam a nice finish.

I made french seams for all the other seams. This fabric was a crinkly rayon of some kind and frayed easily so all the raw edges are encased.

The neckhole and armholes are finished with bias strips. I had to piece this from scraps that I had left. Once I was finished there were hardly any scraps left over. Now I just have to wait for the weather to warm up so I can enjoy wearing this fun little top. Hopefully by the time things warm up the quarantine will be over or there will be nobody to see the top but my family.