A few weeks back I saw a YouTube video by stylist Elena Hue and one of her outfits featured a top by Massimo Dutti. It looked like linen with random stripes printed on and the style was so interesting with drape and asymmetry. It intrigued me, and an idea started to percolate in my brain, ultimately leading to the self-drafted asymmetric striped top I’m showing you today.
I knew which fabric I could use straight away. I had a length of coral pink cotton blend fabric with woven off-white stripes running through it. I think I bought it last year from Patterns and Plains.
But how would I go about getting the pattern shapes that I would need? First, some investigation was needed.
My first step was to visit the Massimo Dutti website to get a better look at the top. Straight away it looked like the stylists had put the model in a top that was a couple of sizes too big for her and I was right, the product details said the model was wearing a size 12 (she’s maybe an 8?)and you can see in the side view that it looks like it’s pegged together at the back. Elena Hue wore hers better in my opinion. Most likely she wore the correct size.
Anyway, I digress…First, I decided I wanted my top to be shorter and fit somewhere between body-skimming and a little bit loose. I noted the capped sleeve on one side and the sleeveless armhole on the other. The neckline is cowl-like and the shoulder is quite narrow on the sleeveless side. The hem asymmetry is easy to achieve.
I had a couple of options for patterning the shapes that I needed. One was to drape on my dressform and the other was to try out some pattern manipulation using the sloper pattern I created last year during my pattern drafting course with Gina Renee Designs. I went for the latter option. Here’s how…
First, my sloper looks like this:
And these are the steps that I went through to create the pattern:
The back pattern piece
- I added about 2cm(¾”) of wearing ease at the underarm
- I left out the vertical darts for more wearing ease.
- I still wanted some sort of shoulder shaping at the back to accommodate my forward shoulders, but I couldn’t have a shoulder dart on the sleeveless side as the shoulder width was too narrow. I moved the shoulder darts to the back neckline.
- I lowered the underarm by 1cm and shaped an armhole on the left side.
- On the right side, to make a capped sleeve, I extended the shoulder line by about 10cm (4”) and drew a line down to meet a lowered armhole.
- Finally, I drew an asymmetric hemline guessing the length.
The front pattern
- I added the same underarm wearing ease as the back and I drew in the asymmetric hemline.
- I left out the two waist vertical darts as I did on the back pattern.
- I slashed down from the neckline in two places on each side. The slashes finished at the bust point.
- I closed the bust dart and shoulder darts on each side to open up the slashes at the neckline.
- I drew in the capped sleeve and the sleeveless armhole copying what I did on the back pattern, except on the sleeveless side I curved the armhole in a little more at the front.
The next step was to try out a mock-up pattern to see if my pattern manipulation worked. I’m happy to report that I only need to make a few minor adjustments by reshaping the hemline, squaring off the shoulder seam on the capped sleeve side and tweaking the armhole curve on the sleeveless side.
When it came to cutting out my fabric, all thoughts of keeping the pattern pieces on the straight grain were banished because I wanted to emulate the inspiration photo and have the stripes running at slight angles across the body. The top is not on-grain, cross-grain or bias! I just winged it and laid the pattern on my fabric in a way that I thought looked pleasing to the eye. Love a bit of free cutting!
Of course, I had to mimic the random wider stripes cutting through the narrow stripes on my inspiration image so I cut out four strips following the woven stripes of the fabric and sewed them onto the front and back before making up the top.
The actual sewing up was easy peasy. Just simple machined hems on the capped sleeve armholes, front neckline and bottom of the top, by turning the fabric up twice. Then I did a narrow bias facing on the back neck and sleeveless armhole.
To stop the neckline from moving about too much and twisting I sewed on a narrow bra strap holder fastened with a popper on the narrow left shoulder seam.
And that’s it…I can’t tell you how much I enjoyed this project! I loved taking inspiration from an image, working out how to create it and then getting all creative with pattern manipulation and putting my spin on the idea. So much fun! And most of all I love the finished garment.
I didn’t make much Summer stuff this year (well the great British Summer was a bit lacking so hardly the need for a lot of new stuff) And I suspect this is my last summer make before I get into Autumn sewing. I already have some new trousers to share and it’s soon time for my trends post so stay tuned for that. And in the meantime, my sewing room is finally going to have some new flooring fitted…can’t wait!
Thanks for stopping by for a read :), feel free to leave a comment and I’ll see you soon!
Wow, so pretty and unique. You are to treat at inspiration designing!😊
Author
Ahh, thanks so much Heather x
Apologies, that should say “you are so great at inspiration designing!” Beautiful coral fabric too!
Author
🙂 no worries, thank you!
Thanks for sharing.
I always have trouble wrapping my brain around asymmetrical draping, so it was nice to see the process laid out!
The top looks great on you, so it was obviously a successful process 🙂
Cheers!
Author
Thanks so much for the kind words Dennine!
Love your design process and sharing it with us with great detail, Diane — thank you! Your top has a very different mood than the original (color and diagonals are softer) but is really successful!
BTW: I went with a 40” rebounder as my bone density booster. I read something about astronauts using rebounding to fight bone loss while in space, and I loved trampolining as a kid! Not a big investment and you can add a safety bar if you like, and use it gently or vigorously. FUN!
Author
Thanks Joan, so glad you like my top 🙂
And you just reminded me that I never got back to your last email because life got busy. But your rebounder sounds so fun! I wish that was something I could use but sadly it’s a no go due to my fractures.
Elena Hue is a breath of fresh air re her amazing colour coordination and soft clothes. I’m 76 and I think many of the outfits she wear are suitable for any age. Your sewing skills always impress me. You did a great job of choosing that stripped fabric and showing the stripes off. Good for you for drafting the pattern.
Author
Ahh, thanks ever so much Sandra! I agree, I adore Elena’s colour combinations and wearable outfits so much.
Hi: I’m more conservative so I would simplify the neck so there’s no fabric fold. Otherwise I really like the style with two different types of sleeves (sleeveless and cap sleeve), the stripes and the pointy hemline. The top looks great from the back!
Author
Thank you Marjorie.
Yes, that would work really well for the neckline and give you the cleaner look that you love.
I didn’t realise that you had created those wide stripes! This is such a clever make, I absolutely love it.
Author
Thanks Sue. Ah, yes they’re sewn on top of the front and back before making up.