Long Overdue Sleeveless Bronte Top Tutorial

Now that we've been in Kansas for a couple of days and we have finally settled in, I have time to write a bit.  There has not been a moment of sewing since I have arrived.  Mainly because when I packed my sewing machine, the spool pin (who knew it was called that) popped off.  Oh and then I had decided to check it, but my lovely husband was like are you sure you want to do that?  So at the airport, we moved things around and it moved to my rolling carry-on.  I leave it to you to imagine what kind of questions we got going through security.  Am I the only one who hand carried a 25 lb machine over 5,000 miles with a dog and a baby?  And does that make me slightly insane?  The machine goes to the shop first thing tomorrow, so hopefully I'll get it back soon so that I can sew some.

Anyway, to my surprise, my sleeveless bronte top was featured on Jennifer Lauren's blog!  You can find it here.  I was reminded that I have a tutorial on how I changed it to sleeveless.  Here's a reminder about how it looks

 

So what you will need:
Outer fabric- I used swiss knit from Gorgeous Fabrics.  It should be a thicker knit.  You can squeeze it out of 1 yard of fabric.  How do I know?  I had two yards, and my first attempt went awry (I was trying to keep the binding) so I had to start over.
Lining fabric- I used a very thin rayon jersey.  Something like this.
Front and back pieces of the Bronte top.  

Ok, now let's get started.  Hopefully I can keep the instructions simple.

1.  Cut one of the front and back out of the outer fabric.

2.  Repeat with lining fabric.

3.  We'll do the back first (as I took pictures of this).  lay the outer and lining fabric right sides together. 

4.  Pin, starting with the neckline.  You'll pin both the neckline and the armholes.

5.  Starting with the neckline, sew 3/8" from the edge.  Then sew the armholes neckline down also 3/8".  (Starting from the neckline will prevent puckering.)

6.  This is what you'll end up with.

7.  Trim the corner as close as you possibly can.  You will be turning this inside out.

8.  Turn it inside out, by whatever means necessary.

 9.  I found that using my tailor's dohickey helped immensely.

10.  Press!

11.  Repeat with the front.

12. This is what you'll end up with.

13.Without undoing the points, separate the outer fabric from the lining fabric.  Match the armhole seams and pin the front to the back.  Pin both sides.

14.  Sew 3/8" from the edge.  It will kind of look like a tube.

15. Press!

16.  On the outer fabric sew/baste (I tend to sew, but you can also use a basting seam) a line 1/4" from the edge for the hem.  On the lining fabric sew/baste 3/8" from the edge.

17.  Using the line, fold the hem up twice and hem 1/4" from the edge on the outer fabric and 3/8" from the edge on the lining fabric.  (You can also do this at the end, but I think it's easier to do it now, since the fabrics are separated.)

18.  Do what I didn't do, go back to the pattern and remark where the front and back are supposed to overlap.  I overlapped too much, raising the neckline.  Oops!

19.  If you want- you can edge stitch the neckline now.  You'll be edge stitching the armholes.

20. Matching the notches, pin the front to the back at the shoulders.  Edge stitch the the armholes.

21.  Tack down the back shoulders as instructed.  And voila you have a sleeveless Bronte top.  (Let me know in the comments if there is anything that didn't make sense.)

I have a white one and a black one in my queue.  Hopefully I can get to them next week. 

And don't forget to enter the giveaway- it closes Wednesday at Noon EST.  It's open to everyone.  Until next time, happy sewing.