DIY Pinterest Inspired White Summer Top

Just a relatively short post for you this week to show you my final make of the season. This Pinterest inspired white summer top was inspired by an image I came across as I was hunting for random inspiration. I’m afraid I couldn’t find where the image came from but here’s it is:

The white cotton fabric came from Clothspot and was a really popular fabric during the Summer months selling out twice I believe.

Strictly speaking white isn’t in my Soft Autumn colour palette (off-white and cream are). White can be a little stark next to my face and make me look washed out, but because the fabric is slightly sheer my skin tone shows through slightly and just takes the edge of the colour. If I ever fancy a change though, this cotton would take a dye beautifully.

DIY Pinterest Inspired White Summer Top: The Pattern Process

For my pattern, I used the basic tank pattern that I created for the basis of this top. 

My fabric isn’t as fluid as the one used in the photo and I decided to go for a slightly more fitted shape instead that would be in keeping with the silhouettes that I prefer to wear. I created side panels as per the photo and made the back and front necklines the same too. I kept the centre back seam of my original tank pattern.

Here is the sequence of photos to show you what I did to arrive at my final pieces. 

(You’ll note that as I merged the back and front side sections together in photos … I put a little dart at what would have been the side seam in an effort to maintain the subtle shaping. If I wanted a looser fit I could have left this out…

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After  I did a quick fitting and before forging on to finish my top, I ended up changing the design a little because there was too much fullness around the sleeves and shoulders. I think I’d spread my pattern piece a bit too much and created too many gathers. 

I’ve made it less extreme by sloping the shoulder back down again and did a small pleat on either side of the shoulder seam instead.

As you saw on the inspiration photo there are little sleeve bands that go around the edge of the capped sleeves and follow on down through the seams of the side panel. However, I wasn’t keen on the way they were squared off, so I made my sleeve bands tapered at the ends instead. I also didn’t bother adding interfacing to the bands in order to keep the lightness of the fabric.

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All seams on my top were just stitched on the machine and overlocked together afterwards. To finish off the neckline, I simply did a plain bias binding.

Apart from the initial pattern adapting process, the making itself was pretty quick and I like how the top turned out, especially how the fabric isn’t crisp and falls back towards my body. I’m also glad I changed the gathers to pleats because the slight architectural nature of the pleats is much more ‘me’. All in all, it’s a handy little summer top to throw on with jeans and shorts and is lovely and cool to wear…and who knows, perhaps we’ll still get a little burst of late summer warmth yet?

In the meantime, I’m excited to start thinking in earnest about Autumn sewing and have been planning a few new projects already.

See you soon!

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