Finally!! A how-to!!! This one is for simple girls tops, I think they're called peasant tops or you can call them a blouse or whatever else. I simply don't think it matters, they're just cute!!
So this is what we're making:
Sooo...first thing is to choose your fabric, which is actually the most difficult part and takes me a looong time when I make one of these...I stand there in front of a literal mountain of fabric and just can't decide.
But in this case I had been asked by a customer to make up the blouse in this Alexander Henry print so that's what I did and not having to choose the fabric saved me at least 10 minutes...so maybe ask a friendly helper to make that choice for you - kids are great for this, bored husbands are another alternative.
You also need measurements of the lucky little lady that you intend to give this top to, it helps anyway (desired arm length, length from armpit to hip, chest measurement). But here are the rough measurements for the different ages, your own measurements will give you more of an idea.
Rough Measurement Guide (length x width)
6 m - 30 x 30.5 cm
12m - 33 x 35 cm
18-24m - 35.5 x 38cm
Size 2 - 38 x 40.5cm
Size 3 - 40.5 x 42cm
Size 4 - 42cm by x 44.5 cm
Size 5 - 45.5 x 46cm
Size 6 - 51 x 47cm
The above are just for the bodice, you'll still need the sleeves. I like to make longsleeve blouses because it saves me one lot of time fluffing around with elastic, but you can make whatever you like.
For the sleeves you just need another two rectangles.
- For the Width of Sleeve: up to you but I would recommend about 32 cm width for a Size 2 (that's what my daughter is), but depends on whether you want wide sleeves or not.
- For the Length of Sleeve: measure how long you want it to be from the armpit, add a few cms for hemming the cuff and then add more cms for cutting the curve (see below
Below is picture of sleeve and bodice parts.
Grab your bodice pieces and your sleeve pieces and fold all in half lengthways. Place on top of each other so that your 8 cut edges all line up at the top right so you can cut your arms. Make sure to sort out any pattern placement as you do this.
Cut a curved line for the arms - it doesn't have to be precise, but I was making a Size 2 and used a 5cm x 13cm angled cut. I add about 1.5 cm to every size increase, or grab a top that fits lucky girl and go by that. The cut only needs to be approximate, but not too sharp. There's no exact curve here, I generally just go for it. ;o) Below is what you should end up with on the bodice, the arms should look similar but narrower (sometimes they get hard to tell apart if you like wide arms).
All cuts are done - YAY!
I use an overlocker for joining the pieces, but you so don't have to. I just like my overlocker..hehe.
So, the first step is to join all pieces together by their arm holes. Grab a sleeve and a bodice, place right sides together (aligning along the curved sleeve cut, and sew along the curve you just cut. Like below. Attach the other sleeve to the other side of the bodice and then the 2nd bodice to the 1st sleeve, right round so you end up with this:
And then attach the final sleeve to the remaining bodice and you should end up with something that looks like the below.
Then line up your sleeves, making sure your armpits line up and sew a line from the sleeve opening to the bottom hem. See below, but don't sew as wonky as I drew..hehe
I've had someone point out that before they sew this line they hem the sleeves, this is a great idea if you don't have a free arm on the machine. It's still possibly to do this step later on even on a non-free-arm machine but if you find it a little tricky you can try hemming it now.
Now you have a top with a very wide neck line...so let's change that by folding and ironing the raw edge right round the neckline, then folding and ironing again so you should have something like this:
Then stitch all around the folded edge, leaving a gap for your elastic, remember to safestitch the gap. Grab your elastic and a safety pin and pop the elastic on the pin. Then push the safety pin through the opening that you've left (see below) and right along your neckline. As for the length of elastic...it's really personal preference as to how wide you like your necklines. I like mine reasonably high/tight so I can fit another top underneath to keep my bubbas warm, but do as you like.
So tack your elastic ends together and then sew the hole you left in the casing shut
The go right round repeating the steps you did (fold raw edge, iron, fold, iron, stitch) for the sleeves and the bottom hem. If you want to you can also make the arms and/or the bottom hem with the elastic (for a cute puff look) but it's up to you. I hardly ever do because I'm lazy, but it is pretty cute. For this one I cut the original bodice too short (naughty me, not measuring properly) so I had to tack a piece on so ignore that...but this is kind of what yours should look like (obviously with shorter sleeves if that's what takes your fancy).
And here are some others I've made using this same method. Obviously you can also make dresses with it and all kinds of things. You can use an a-line angled cut and whatever else happens to take your fancy. You can sew in ties at the sides, although don't use ribbon because it'll just come out.
If you have any questions or found this helpful, let me know! And do send us your photos if you make one of these, we'd love to see them and if you don't mind us posting them in our customer gallery that would be even better!
peasant top, tutorial
