Green Silk Top ~ March Makes

~ Finished Green Silk Top ~

I was really excited about making this top. It had been so long since I used this pattern, I was really looking forward to working with it again.

Simplicity 1775 and the original green silk purchased for this project

I started with the top portion of Simplicity 1755 dress pattern (size 14). I've done this before with my peplum from drapes, refashion project (here). I really like the no sleeve, raglan style. 

I wanted a full top, without a waistband. So, in tracing the pattern, I drew the side seams straight down instead of following the curve of the bodice. I also omitted the darts to give more fullness. (And I'm sure glad I did. Apparently I've gained a bit of weight around the middle)

I also added about 5 inches to the length. I want to be able to wear this top untucked for a more casual look. After making a muslin I decided on a tunic style hemline.

Closeup of the side slit

I originally purchased a beautiful China Silk (pictured above with the pattern) for this project. It is so sheer that a triple layer is still see through. I was really at a loss as to what it should be lined with. After all, China Silk is a lining fabric itself. 

Off to my local fabric store I went in search of anything that would work. My preference was silk but my bare minimum requirement was a natural fiber. I came out with an iridescent blue/green silk with a slight bit of body. 

The plan was to use this as the lining but once I got it home I decided I couldn't cover it up. It's so shimmery and shiny. It was to be the star of the show. The China silk will just have to be happy with it's role as a lining after all. 

The fancy detail that I wanted to add was to use fabric loops and covered buttons instead of a zipper down the back. I'd never done it before and wasn't really sure what type of modification I needed to make. 

I ended up doing it this way:

The side that I added the loops to was sewn with a 1" seam allowance. That's just 3/8" wider than the pattern called for. I wanted this edge to stop just short of the center back.

The side that I added the buttons to was widened by 1" and sewn with the normal 5/8" seam allowance. The extra width goes beyond the center back. The point is to have an overlap, for modestly, and have the buttons placed down the center back. 

I first tried making the loops with binding that was sewn closed. It is a flat loop and was unappealing to me. So I decided to make cording, using the same fabric as the blouse. I took a 1 inch strip, cut on the true bias, and folded as I would to make bias binding. I didn't have any cording the width that I wanted so I used 4 strands of yarn and laid that down the center of my binding. Then I hand, whipped stitched the binding closed around the yarn. This gave the nice, full cording that I wanted.

The buttons and loops are spaced every inch, starting at the center of the neckband. As you can see from the picture, I did also top stitch by hand, down the back seams. Not pictured is the hand stitching around the bottom hem (seen in an above picture) and sleeve openings. 

Until next time,
Happy Stitching!!

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