Self Assembly Required

DIY dressmaking + crafts with Emily

A work appropriate top!

Sorry for the short hiatus folks! Turns out wifi in Cuba is not the easiest thing to come by so I wasn’t able to update as planned but hey, I should be coming back to you all refreshed and full of energy!

 

Since I’ve got a little bit of catching up to do, today’s post is about the my latest Minerva Crafts blogger network make which actually went live 2 weeks ago so you might have seen it over there already!

I picked out a metre of Atelier Brunette viscose fabric for this make. I love the prints of the Atelier Brunette range – everything’s so pretty I always just want to buy it all! That being said this was the first time I’ve used it since it’s a little on the pricey side.

I got the Blossom viscose challis in the Night colourway. I loved the orange and purple tones – it felt right for some autumnal sewing!

Now a metre of fabric is not a whole lot to play with so I made my goal a work suitable top!

I work in a surgery during the day so part of our guidelines for clinical wear is to be ‘bare below the elbows’. I’m sure that term is familiar to some of you! I usually just don a grubby t-shirt to wear under my scrubs but I really wanted to improve my work wardrobe so I don’t look like a complete hobo…

I used my trusty Simplicity 1366 pattern for this make and planned a little hack to jazz it up a little!

I cut off the pattern around the waist and shortened the sleeves a little. From the remainder of the fabric I cut two strips one and half times the width of the bodice to add a peplum-y frill to the top.

This took me just a couple of hours to put together. I think it helps that I’ve made it enough times that I don’t need to use the instructions anymore! The fabric was perfect for this style of blouse though. It was drapey without losing too much shape and volume. It was a dream to sew up! I really need more Atelier Brunette fabric in my life!


I’m so happy with how this top turned out! It’s so comfy and still looks pretty stylish. I’m not normally a fan of the peplum look but I like it better in this loose fit. Plus, I love the play on volume which is a trend that seems here to stay!

This top will definitely get a lot of wear in future!

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5 Comments

  1. Hi Emily, I really want to give this a go! how exactly did you gather the peplum? Just with a loose hand stitch then secured it on the machine?! Ive never done this before…a case of ask the expert!

    1. Hello! I usually two rows of really long stitches on the edge you want to gather (use the longest you can do on your machine), leave the tails long on one end and pull! You can get away with one row but I find with two it’s easier to control the position of the gathers. I make one of the rows inside the seam allowance and the other one just outside of it which I’ll unpick at the end once it’s sewn together.
      Once it’s gathered to your desired length, you can pin and sew it as normal! In other words, ignore the gathers at this point and just sew over them!

      Hope that helps! X

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