CROSS FRONT TANK TOP

June 2006 ~ I was hit with the urge to sew this weekend, and then with the urge to update my site. Rare occurence! This is a quick and easy little pattern that I've used on several previous occasions, so I thought it would be a good one to share on-line. The fabric is/was bought here; it's a "lurex knit" with a 75% stetch, 58" wide and I got 1/2 a yard.

This top is loosely based on a top I bought years ago, minus the ruched sides. It has a dress-up/dress-down potential, plus a lot of room for embellishment if you're so inclined. For example, you could add a thin trim around the neck holes and arm holes. Or a thick embroidered ribbon could be put around the neck and around the bust. Or you could just embroider on the fabric itself. Make the bottom longer and you have a dress. Flutter, cap, or 3/4 sleeves would look nice as well.

Since the pattern on this fabric was so busy, I opted to go very simple, though I did leave enough of a side seam that I could go back and add the ruching later on if I got the urge.

This example is all hand-sewn but could be easily and quickly done on a machine that you're on good terms with. A serger would be even better, but alas, I don't have one.


MAKE THE PATTERN

Pull out a favorite close fitting tank top made out of fabric with about the same amount of stretch as the fabric you want to use. If you're good at eyeballing things, go ahead and cut your pieces directly, but if you want to decrease the chances of messing up, pull out some newspaper and practice cutting that to size first.

First, make a pattern roughly equivalent to the back of your tank top (pattern piece A). Make just one half so that you can put it on a fold of fabric and get a perfectly symetrical cut. Figure out where the line that goes right under your breasts is and mark that on the pattern.

Now make a pattern for the cross piece (Pattern Piece B) that looks roughly like the one pictured here. It needs to be

  1. wider than the half-back pattern; how much wider depends on how much cross-over you want. The more cross over, the less low-cut.
  2. arm hole length slightly longer than the back arm hold length so that the seam will be a bit to the back rather than sitting right on the top of your shoulder.
  3. have a side depth of about the same length as the distance between the line you marked on the back and the back armpit
  4. have a curve along the bottom; the bigger your assets, the bigger this curve needs to be.

CUTTING

If you have enough fabric, cut two of the back pieces (A) and then chop the second one about 1/2 an inch above the marked bust line, discarding the top part. If you don't have enough fabric to waste a top piece like that, cut just one and then fold your pattern piece over and cut the second piece that way.

Cut two of the front cross piece, making sure that they're mirror images (ie, fold fabric in half and cut two at once)

SEWING

Join front pieces to back at shoulders.

And then hem around the neck opening.

Cross over the two front pieces the desired amount and sew lightly in place. Sew the bottom edge of the crossed over front to the top of the front piece. You may need to stretch the bottom a bit to get it to be as wide as the top. When you let go, it should gather nicely.

Sew the sides together. Go try it on and make sure everything's going according to plan.

If necessary, put in two darts at the side of the armholes to gather up any lose fabric. The bustier you are, the more this will be necessary.

Hem the armholes and the bottom hem.

rejoice.

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