This top is based on a ready to wear going out top that I bought approximately 20 years ago that I still have lying around even though I've probably only worn it 3 times. The problem is that the fabric in that top - whilst beautiful - is quite see through so I need to wear it over something and I can never figure out what. But what I do know is I love the way that top feels on.
I was trying to come up with ideas for a new piece of rayon that I picked up on my last trip to the fabric store. I was thinking of something along the lines of a jump suit with a flowy long sleeve top, fitted waistband and the pants from the sirocco jumpsuit but wasn't sure about a pattern for the top half.
So I thought I'd make a wearable muslin of the top out of another piece of fabric that I've had lying around for ages.
I love this fabric. I bought the first lot in May 2017 and used it as a lining for a pair of nice pants plus a little woven T shirt. I then went back and bought more because I loved it so much and used some of it to line my suit refashioning coat and kept the last little bit planning on making something that wasn't a lining - something that would showcase the fabric better and I decided that this should work nicely.
To make the pattern I pulled out the old shirt and traced the pattern onto white paper. It's basically an oversized shirt with a cut on bat wing sleeve. I then extended the length of the sleeve so that they were full length. I made the front and back exactly the same except for the neckline which is cut deeper at the front than at the back.
I actually cut the shirt in one piece. I took my fabric and folded it cross wise so that I didn't need a seam down the top of my arm, and folded it in half lengthwise to make it symmetrical down the centerline. I then just had to cut it off to length and then a curve up the side seam and around to the sleeve length.
I sewed and serged the side seams and then cut out the hole for the head. This I finished with a strip of rayon bias binding I had in stash.
To finish the bottom of the shirt and pull in all the extra fullness I used another piece of leftover fabric a rib knit fabric in a deep teal blue colour. I cut the waistband 12 "wide and folded it in half for a 6"wide waistband but decided that was a bit too wide and cut it off to about 10" or a 5"waistband. The waistband was sewn onto the bottom of the shirt by simply stretching the ribbing to match and then letting it spring back.
I finished the sleeves in a similar way making cuffs 3"wide x 8"around. However these were to small to fully gather the amount of fabric in the sleeve so I made 4 small evenly spaced darts in the sleeve fabric first and then gathered the rest of the fabric into the knit.
This was quite a quick make and I really love the way it turned out. As I said it's not something I would normally choose but I think it's going to get a lot of wear.
And even better it works perfectly with my peacock jeans allowing me to show off my peacocks!
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