Friday, March 19, 2010

Pour moi... easy, peasy, weezy!

Recently, I purchased a top from American Eagle... I love AE! The best part is, the shirt only set me back $5.99 plus tax... SCORE! I don't often indulge in anything for myself, and I don't call $5.99 an indulgence by any means... what I'm saying is that I don't mind spending money on good quality, well fitting clothes. For instance, AE denim fits me well and generally costs anywhere from $19.99 (on sale) to $80.00... as any woman knows, finding a great pair of jeans is almost futile! AE denim fits me well and looks great, I highly recommend giving them a try... but, not to get too sidetracked, this isn't about jeans at all...

Sooo, anyway... I loved the top so much that I decided to try to recreate it myself. It turns out that the construction of it is very simple... hardly worth the original price of $34.99.... The original was made of a featherweight printed jersey knit, and consisted of only three separate pattern pieces... no sleeves to contend with, nice! I picked up a lightweight jersey at my favourite local fabric store for $4.00/metre... $4.00! Yeah, that's what I said!

Here's the AE shirt...



and the discount jersey fabric I purchased, which by the way, is so much cuter in real life...



Essentially what I did was fold the original top in half lengthwise; fold my jersey so that it was four layers thick; place the folded edge of the original on the folded edge of the new fabric and trace adding 1/4"-1/2" for seem allowance; cut out the new pieces, separate them and refold one piece to cut out the front neckline; place right sides together and sew... that's basically it! I finished the neckline and armhole edges; but in truth, jersey doesn't fray so it's not totally necessary to do this step. I added some finishing touches to make it look a little less blah... a frill around front neckline and a fixed high-waisted sash... voila!



A nice, new, lightweight top for spring... and it's for me...

3 comments:

  1. I friggin' LOVE this!!! I would pay $30 for that in a store! You can pair it with dress up or dress down clothes! Way to go... again!! :)

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  2. I love that too! Seriously - you should sell these! I'd buy one from you ;) It's so hard to find really cute tops that are long enough for us Mommies to wear comfortably... and not look like we're trying to be 19 all over again! Or looking like we're much older!

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  3. Thanks ladies... I was so proud of myself... although it's not without its faults; but, for the first "draft", it's ok... spring is always my favourite sewing season... nice, light and airy clothes are so much easier and quicker to construct... more to come!!! Stay tuned;)

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