Made By Lex

Hey everyone! I am around, I’ve just been working on a lot of custom orders so I don’t have as much fun stuff to post. My tutorial for the dress will be up tomorrow.

Here is a custom flower top I did for Alex. She chose this beautiful organic black cotton.

Here’s a custom order lunchbox. We got the fabric from Harts amazing oilcloth selection.

The best part is it’s reversible! This is actually the inside! I especially love this print.

So after I finished all my other projects today the girls were still asleep and I got to work on another shirt. I used a grey J. Crew thermal that I had. Then I added a bit of another shirt I had in my refashion pile. I LOVE LOVE LOVE it!

I need to hold myslef back from making 100 of these. I was even thinking they’d be cute in the winter over a plain white T, under a jacket.

The back. I think the fact that the ruffle goes all the way around the collar is why I love it so much.

I’d love to see your creations or versions on this one!

I have been pining over this top from Anthropologie for a long time. Then I saw this fabric from Harts and it reminded me of it so I decided to try my hand at making something similar. I’m happy to answer ay questions about the tutorial. Here it goes!!

The first thing you need to do is cut the front collar. You need to cut a ‘U’ shape. Measure the distance between your shoulders to figure out how wide you want it and the distance from your shoulder to how low you want the front of the U. You are going to need TWO identical pieces because we’re going to make it double sided for extra weight.

Next you need the 2 back straps. Measure from your shoulder to how low you want it in the back. It’s generally above you bra strap. Now, cut FOUR of those (two fro each strap).

You also need to cut the bottom hem piece. I just did single sided for that. After you cut those, this is what you should have…

Now you need to sew the straps together, as shown. Take each side, sew it together then turn it right side out and iron flat.

Pin the collar really well…
…the sew it together as shown. DO NOT sew the bottom part of the ‘U’. We’re going to tuck the shirt in there ad then seam it shut. After you sew it, turn it right side out and press with your iron.

Get your pieces and pin as shown. We are going to connect the collar piece and the two straps. Pin them well and then sew together where the shoulder is.

Here’s the one big piece now.

Now for the main part of the shirt. I find that a half a yard, normal width cotton works perfect. It is wide enough and depending on your size you can do more or less of a little gather in the front. Cut the fabric in half and then sew together on each side. (You don’t have to cut it in half, but if you don’t you’ll only have a seam on one of the sides and I think that looks off, so I have a seam on each side.)

Create a gather in the center of the shirt. You can also do pleats if you want to. Depending on you chest width, you may need more or less gather.

Get your collar now and go to the opening at the bottom of the ‘U’. FOld it under slightly at the openings and iron it down.

Pin it so the crease stays better. Do this on both sides of the U so you have a clean hem on each side of the shirt.

Now get your shirt and tuck it into the ‘U’ collar.

Pin the shirt and the collar together. Now you are going to sew the collar to the shirt along the opening.

Now we need to stitch all along the back of the shirt before we add the back straps on. I serge mine, then top stitch it, but you can just double fold and stitch, add hem tape or do a zigzag stitch.

FInd the place in the back where you want your back straps to lie and pin them in place, then stitch onto the shirt.

Lastly, it’s time to add your hem piece. I stitch along the bottom to create them hem, then add it on to my shirt piece. Then you’re done!!

Oh i forgot!! I added some buttoms to the front of mine like the anthro shirt. I just handstitched them on with some thicker thread.

Here’s how it comes out!!

i LOVE LOVE LOVE this shirt!!!! Let me know what you think!

If you try it remember to add some pics to the flickr pool!

And the bubble dress is the clear winner so I will be starting my tutorial for that tomorrow! Thanks for all the votes!

Take your shirt and cut off the sleeves and the neckline. Cut the neckline to your own desire! (Don’t throw away your sleeves!)

Now, Cut the sleeves apart so they are open. The sleeves are going to become our pleated neckline.

Iron the sleeves open so there are no wrinkles.

With your 2 open sleeves, cut 4 strips that are even in width. We are going to sew them together soon. Here’s what you should have at this point.

Take your 4 sleeves and sew them together to create one long piece. Measure your neckline and make sure you have almost double the length on the ruffle piece.

If you need to, trim the edges at this point to make sure that you have nice, straight edges.

Take the long strip and fold it inside out in half and sew it together.

After sewing, turn it right side and iron it so you have a nice, crisp seam.

Now it’s time to attach the ruffles to the neckline. Start with the shoulder and make little pleats, however frequent you want them. Pin each pleat to the shirt.

Here’s what it should look like.

Sew the pleats to the blouse.

I attached hem tape to the collar and the arm holes. If you’d prefer not to, you can just leave it with the open stitch and seam your armholes.

This is what it looks like when it’s done!

And here I am, with it belted!

..and add some jewelry….