Skip to main content

Tie-front top hack

One of my coworkers was wearing a really cute top with a tie-front a few weeks ago and as luck would have it, another sewist posted a tie-front tank top. I asked her about it and she said she'd hacked it and posted a picture of her pattern piece and I thought "well, if she can do it, I can do it!" You can do it too :-)

This was a really easy hack! For mine, I used the Ellie and Mac Going Home Sweater (afflink). It's a pretty basic raglan style pattern with t-shirt, tunic and dress lengths. For this hack, I used the t-shirt length of the pattern and a double brushed poly from CaliFabrics.

To add the tie-front, I traced off the front pattern piece on to my trusty bee paper. Instead of adding a band around the bottom, I would need to hem it so I added an 1 inch to the bottom to give myself some hem space.

Near the center fold, I drew my tie shape using my French curve. I made sure to not make it on the fold, but near and then made a slight curve inward at the bottom of the fold line to make and indentation where my tie would be (see red arrow). I made my ties 8 inches long.

I constructed the top as according to the directions until it came to finish the bottom. Instead of adding the band as indicated in the pattern directions, I hemmed it using a double needle at 1/2", even though I had allowed 1" I tried it on and was happier with the 1/2" hem (and it's better to have a narrower hem around the ties). Honestly, it's a little tricky to sew around the curves of the ties and the back could look neater but you don't really see the back when it's tied and being worn.


I immediately put it on and went to meet friends for a Greek festival! I regretted this a little because it was much to warm to wear double brushed poly, it's super cozy but it doesn't breathe!

This post contains affiliate links, if you make a purchase using one of these links this blog may receive a small commission at no additional cost to you. Thank you for your support of my fabric habit!
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

George and Ginger Little Black Bra - pattern review

I have been obsessed with the George and Ginger Lovesick Bralette {now called the Little Black Bra} for the last few weeks. I have made 3   5  a million of them in these past few weeks! I've been sewing up a storm during the Shelter-in-Place orders from COVID-19 and thee bralettes have been perfect to wear when lounging around or working from home. This is the first and at this point, the only bra I have ever made. This pattern was really attractive to me because I didn't need any special supplies, I could make it from fabric I already had. I actually made all of these from swim/athletic knit scraps I had left over. Also, it's a free pattern! If you go the the George and Ginger Facebook group , you can download the pattern for free. It's available in sizes 29AA-48E. Since I used swim fabric, I could also wear these as swimsuit tops. I might make some solid black swim bottoms so I can wear whatever tops I feel like wearing. Pattern tips I never print my patterns...
Post a Comment
Read more

Lady Rockers - my first German pattern

I first encountered the lady hood rockers pattern from Mammahooch2 in a Facebook sewing group. I love seeing other people's makes, it gives so much inspiration. Since I speak German I thought it would be a fun challenge to sew a German pattern! This one was so simple to put together and with so many pictures, you can easily sew it up based on those and a little help from Google translate if needed :) Originally, I wanted to make the hoodie version, Lady Hood Rockers but realized that I didn't have enough fabric for a hood. I also inadvertently made it the full dress length, not realizing the hoodie was an add on to the previous dress version . I'm sure this would have been clear if my German was better. I leaned it to this and finished the neckline with a band and made it a dress. Sometimes I try to make a top and get a dress, it happens. A little bit of an '80s vibe! I made it with this fun feather print from fabric.com . The white turned out to be a little tra...
Post a Comment
Read more

George and Ginger 40k Sway - Pattern Review

Final product - 40k Sway George and Ginger Patterns gave the 40k Sway pattern away to celebrate having 40,000 members in their Facebook group. Look at how cute that neckline is? Of course I had to make this super cute freebie. As an extra bonus, there are directions for making a functional placket opening or faux opening. I opted for the faux placket because it's marginally easier and I have no reason that I need the opening to work but if you needed access to a port or to breastfeed, this top design would be great! I measure a size L12 (full bust 38") but I was at the top of the size range and worried it wouldn't fit in my arms so I decided to go up to an L14 and graded out to an XL16 hip. I checked my fabric stretch before sewing it as I was using a French Terry which is not always very stretchy. My fabric had 50% horizontal stretch and minimal vertical stretch (maybe 10%); the pattern says it needs 50% 2-way stretch so I thought I would be fine. Um.....no....It was way...
2 comments
Read more