Project Pinterest: Simple Bow Tie Top

I'm finally entering the land of making clothes for myself. Up until now, I've only made clothes for Charlotte and was afraid to try anything beyond that out of fear of A) getting frustrated to the point of throwing fabric in the trash; or B) ending up with something unwearable and wasting time and money. One of my new year's resolutions was to expand my sewing repertoire, so I started with a few projects that seemed simple enough and didn't have any zippers, buttons, ruffles, or anything else that could potentially trip me up.

One of my first attempts was the Simple Bow Tie Top. I found it on Pinterest several months ago, but I am also a follower of the blog it came from: Sweet Verbena. This is a great sewing/crafting blog with lots of tutorials and ideas, especially for cute clothes and dresses. The tutorial for the top I made is here.

I followed the instructions for the top as written, though I made a few adjustments to the measurements once I cut it out. The tutorial says to cut two pieces of knit fabric, each 30"X30". I started out with this measurement and then cut off several inches on the sides and about 6" from the bottom. It's a matter of your size and personal preference, but for me (5'6" and typically a small or medium in tops) the starting size was way too big. I wanted a looser fitting top, but had I not made these adjustments it would've looked sloppy on me. No matter what fit you end up going with, don't make any changes until you've tried it on. Once the neckline is gathered it will take away a lot of width and some length, so test it out as best you can before doing something irreversible!

Another change I made was to my bow tie. The tutorial gives really great instructions for a tie, but I had a certain fabric I wanted to use and didn't have enough of it if I'd used the measurements given. So I improvised and made mine about half the width and 10" shorter than the one in the original. Again, it's a matter of preference and what kind of material you have on hand. If you plan on using a silkier, drape-y fabric then I'd recommend following the tutorial as is. If you want to use a cotton quilting weight fabric, you might be better off reducing the width like I did to make sure you have enough room to run it through the casing and so it lays nicely when finished and doesn't look too bulky or stiff.

It was so encouraging to make something that I'll actually be able to wear. Since then I've made two other knit tunic tops and am about to start on a new pattern that's a little more complicated. So far so good!

~Stacy