WEBVTT 00:00:11.290 --> 00:00:15.110 Hey. Welcome to another episode of get thready with me. Today, I’m going to show you all 00:00:15.110 --> 00:00:20.980 how to make a high-neck sleeveless crop top. This style of shirt is a really nice, basic, 00:00:20.980 --> 00:00:26.430 yet flattering piece to own, and they go with pretty much – anything. 00:00:26.430 --> 00:00:27.240 So let’s go! 00:00:27.240 --> 00:00:31.490 Okay, so the first thing I need to do is to make the pattern, and to do this I pick out 00:00:31.490 --> 00:00:36.649 a t-shirt that fits me well, is fairly tight-fitting and is made out of stretchy fabric. You can 00:00:36.649 --> 00:00:40.260 pretty much use any tight-fitting t-shirt – but the most important thing is that the 00:00:40.260 --> 00:00:43.100 t-shirt needs to have a high back of the neck. 00:00:43.100 --> 00:00:47.050 So to make the pattern, I first turn this t-shirt inside out. It needs to lie with the 00:00:47.050 --> 00:00:50.480 back of the shirt (which is usually where the tag is) facing up. 00:00:50.480 --> 00:00:55.180 First I make a mark 2 inches away from the neckline, on both sides, on the top of this seam. 00:00:55.180 --> 00:00:57.510 Then, I make a mark directly underneath each armhole seam. 00:01:00.300 --> 00:01:02.180 Then I need to work out what width the bust 00:01:02.190 --> 00:01:05.439 measurement needs to be. So I took my bust measurement. 00:01:05.439 --> 00:01:10.540 Then, I took 2 inches off this measurement. And then I divided this by 2. 00:01:10.540 --> 00:01:14.659 This gives me 17 inches. So, I make two marks at the same height as 00:01:14.659 --> 00:01:19.430 the armholes, just bringing them in so that this is 17 inches across. 00:01:19.430 --> 00:01:22.840 Now I’m going to join up these two marks with a curve. 00:01:22.840 --> 00:01:27.110 Now you can either use one of these French curve rulers if you have one, or you can just 00:01:27.110 --> 00:01:31.640 eyeball it. With the curve, you want to kind of follow the shape of the curve of the armhole 00:01:31.640 --> 00:01:35.900 on the t-shirt that’s already there, but bringing the curve in at the top so that it 00:01:35.900 --> 00:01:37.310 meets up with your other mark. 00:01:37.310 --> 00:01:41.579 The next step is to decide how long you want the shirt to be. I wanted my top to be around 00:01:41.579 --> 00:01:46.799 17 and a half inches long. I took off an inch to allow for the turtle neck, but then added 00:01:46.799 --> 00:01:51.790 it back on for the hem allowance at the bottom of the shirt. So, I made a mark 17 and a half 00:01:51.790 --> 00:01:54.549 inches below the centre of the t-shirt’s neckline. 00:01:57.380 --> 00:02:01.660 The bottom of the crop top is going to sit pretty much at your waistline. So, I took 00:02:01.670 --> 00:02:05.930 my waist measurement and then again, I minus 2 inches, and then I divided this measurement 00:02:05.930 --> 00:02:06.469 by 2. 00:02:06.469 --> 00:02:12.489 So, for me, I got 14 inches. So I’m going to make this bottom line 14 inches long, by 00:02:12.489 --> 00:02:17.160 connecting up these 3 marks in a straight line. 00:02:17.160 --> 00:02:23.300 And then lastly I need to connect up these two lines. 00:02:23.300 --> 00:02:26.819 And this is what my basic top pattern is going to look like. 00:02:26.819 --> 00:02:29.750 Now I need to transfer this pattern onto some paper. 00:02:29.750 --> 00:02:34.459 I fold the shirt exactly in half and I put a piece of paper inside, matching up the edges 00:02:34.459 --> 00:02:36.140 of the paper with the fold. 00:02:36.140 --> 00:02:40.849 Then, using some pins, I press through the shirt, following the chalk lines, all the 00:02:40.849 --> 00:02:44.030 way around. This creates small holes on the paper below. 00:02:44.030 --> 00:02:50.930 Then, all I need to do is simply connect these small holes together just like a join-the-dot picture. 00:02:52.620 --> 00:02:56.610 And I cut this out. See! They're the same size! Woo hoo! 00:02:56.610 --> 00:03:00.540 Okay, so this is the only pattern piece that I'm going to need, and it’s going to be 00:03:00.540 --> 00:03:02.720 used for both the front and the back of the shirt. 00:03:02.720 --> 00:03:06.959 Now that's done, on to fabrics. The fabric that I’m making my shirt out of is a very 00:03:06.959 --> 00:03:11.760 stretchy, 2-way stretch ribbed jersey, but you can pretty much use any stretchy jersey fabric. 00:03:12.670 --> 00:03:16.950 To copy my pattern onto the fabric, I fold the fabric in half, and then I place the pattern 00:03:16.950 --> 00:03:19.430 piece on top, with this edge on the fold. 00:03:20.840 --> 00:03:24.300 Now because I don’t trust myself to cut it out accurately while it’s just on top 00:03:24.300 --> 00:03:29.670 like that, I pin it on, trace around it, then remove the pattern piece, put pins in to hold 00:03:29.670 --> 00:03:33.050 the two layers in place, and then I cut around the traced lines. 00:03:39.340 --> 00:03:43.709 And when I unfold it, I have this! Now I simply need to do this once more, so 00:03:43.709 --> 00:03:46.340 that I'll have 2 pieces. 00:03:46.340 --> 00:03:49.820 Now that I have 2 identical pieces, I sandwich them together, 00:03:54.709 --> 00:03:58.549 and then I sew the two pieces together at the sides and at the shoulders. 00:03:58.549 --> 00:04:04.090 And it’s also a good idea to pin pin pin when you’re working with stretchy fabric. 00:04:04.090 --> 00:04:08.599 To sew the front and back pieces together, I am using a zig zag stitch. Some extra tips 00:04:08.599 --> 00:04:12.129 to make your life easier is to also use a thread that’s very similar to the colour 00:04:12.129 --> 00:04:16.829 of your fabric, and to use a ball-point jersey needle, instead of a regular sewing machine needle. 00:04:17.410 --> 00:04:20.890 Once these two pieces are sewn together, I turn the top inside out so that the seams 00:04:20.890 --> 00:04:22.560 are on the inside. 00:04:22.570 --> 00:04:26.380 And it’s a good idea to try it on at this stage, to make sure that it fits alright, 00:04:26.380 --> 00:04:29.949 and that you can get your head through the neckhole, etc. 00:04:29.949 --> 00:04:34.030 Now I’m going to make the "cuff" for the neck. I measure the circumference of the neck 00:04:34.030 --> 00:04:38.590 hole, which is 10 inches. I then take HALF an inch off that measurement, 00:04:38.590 --> 00:04:42.180 and so I cut out a strip which is only 9 and a half inches long. 00:04:42.180 --> 00:04:47.330 It’s also 3 inches wide, but if you want more of a turtle neck, you can increase this, 00:04:47.330 --> 00:04:52.110 or if you LESS of a turtle neck then decrease this and make the strip thinner. 00:04:52.110 --> 00:04:56.919 Anyway, after cutting this rectangle out I fold it in half like this, and then I sew 00:04:56.919 --> 00:04:59.470 down here, with a half inch seam allowance. 00:04:59.470 --> 00:05:03.520 Then, I turn the piece inside-out so that the seam is on the inside, and then fold it 00:05:03.520 --> 00:05:08.720 in half length-ways like this, to give myself this kind of cuff… thing. 00:05:08.720 --> 00:05:19.789 Then, I place 4 pins equally around the neck hole. So, one pin on each shoulder seam, and 00:05:19.789 --> 00:05:24.940 one in the centre front and one in the centre back. I do the same thing on the neck cuff, 00:05:24.940 --> 00:05:29.220 with 4 evenly-spaced pins. I’m going to match these pins up when I 00:05:29.220 --> 00:05:30.700 sew the two pieces together. 00:05:34.060 --> 00:05:38.900 To sew the cuff on, I’m first removing this doobly-doo from my machine so that the cuff 00:05:38.900 --> 00:05:40.240 will fit over the top. 00:05:40.270 --> 00:05:45.710 Then, I slide the neck cuff on, with the raw edges facing this way, and the neckline of 00:05:45.710 --> 00:05:50.030 the shirt goes underneath it. So, the cuff is going to be sewn onto the right side of 00:05:50.030 --> 00:05:51.490 the shirt. 00:05:51.980 --> 00:05:57.420 Once I match up the raw edges, I sew the neck cuff onto the shirt! I do this by using a 00:05:57.430 --> 00:06:02.860 zig-zag stitch, and at the same time stretching the fabric underneath so each set of pins 00:06:02.860 --> 00:06:04.920 basically match up. 00:06:10.639 --> 00:06:14.770 When I get to the next set of pins, I remove them, and then I do the same thing – I stitch 00:06:14.770 --> 00:06:20.740 along the edge, stretching the fabrics so that the next set of pins line up. 00:06:20.740 --> 00:06:26.060 And I do this all around the neckhole until I reach the point where I started from. 00:06:26.060 --> 00:06:28.520 And – that's the neckline done! 00:06:28.520 --> 00:06:33.130 For the armholes, I’m basically going to do the exact same thing, however the strips 00:06:33.130 --> 00:06:36.259 are going to be a little bit thinner. I measure the armhole circumference (which 00:06:36.259 --> 00:06:41.919 for me, is 15 inches), then this time I subtract 1 whole inch from this measurement. So, 00:06:41.919 --> 00:06:45.770 I cut out a strip that’s 14 inches long and 1.5 inches wide. 00:06:45.770 --> 00:06:51.099 Then I do the exact same thing that I did for the neck. I fold this strip in half, sew 00:06:51.099 --> 00:07:00.319 here, turn it around, fold it in half lengthways to get a cuff, quarter it with pins, quarter 00:07:00.319 --> 00:07:05.990 the armhole evenly with pins, and I sew them together, raw edges matching, with the cuff 00:07:05.990 --> 00:07:11.190 on the right side of the shirt. And again, I stretch the fabric while I sew so that each 00:07:11.190 --> 00:07:15.450 set of pins matches up with each other. 00:07:28.919 --> 00:07:31.880 Now the last thing that I need to do is to hem the bottom of the shirt. 00:07:31.880 --> 00:07:39.190 So, I turn the shirt inside out, and then I fold the bottom up about inch, and then 00:07:39.190 --> 00:07:43.139 sew across it. Now I recently got myself this special sewing 00:07:43.139 --> 00:07:49.220 foot called a “walking foot”. This thing makes sewing with stretchy fabrics A DREAM. 00:07:49.220 --> 00:07:53.520 Basically, it helps feed all the fabric through evenly to stop the hem from ruffling when 00:07:53.520 --> 00:07:58.560 you sew it. If you don’t own a walking foot, however, I recommend sewing the hem using 00:07:58.560 --> 00:08:01.979 a piece of paper underneath, just like I did in this video here. 00:08:01.979 --> 00:08:05.780 Here’s a close up of the walking foot in action. 00:08:05.780 --> 00:08:08.669 And – look at my nice, flat hem! 00:08:08.669 --> 00:08:13.750 So, I finished the top - but then I tried it on a decided that the armholes were slightly 00:08:13.750 --> 00:08:18.940 too tight. So I actually wanted to try and make the top again, but modify the pattern 00:08:18.940 --> 00:08:23.639 slightly to make the armholes larger. So, back to my pattern - all I simply did 00:08:23.639 --> 00:08:27.590 was to make my armhole a little bit larger by extending this curve. 00:08:27.590 --> 00:08:33.620 And, I tried again, this time using the same fabric but in black. And I’m not going to 00:08:33.620 --> 00:08:39.260 film the whole thing again because all the steps I used are exactly the same as before! 00:08:39.260 --> 00:08:40.360 SO – that’s it! 00:08:40.360 --> 00:08:43.420 [MUSIC: electronic dance music] 00:08:57.640 --> 00:09:02.820 So, yeah, that's it. That was actually surprisingly easy to do. The second top that I made - so, 00:09:02.830 --> 00:09:05.850 this one - actually only took me about an hour to make, and that was because I wasn't 00:09:05.850 --> 00:09:09.050 filming, I was sewing at my normal sewing speed. So, yeah, you can pretty much whip 00:09:09.050 --> 00:09:13.470 up a bunch of these in all different colours in no time. And while it's a really nice basic 00:09:13.470 --> 00:09:17.360 shirt to own that'll go with a lot of things, you can also do some more interesting things 00:09:17.360 --> 00:09:23.200 with it, with say T-shirt transfers, or fabric paints, or embroidery, or using different 00:09:23.200 --> 00:09:26.500 fabrics for the cuffs and the collar, to make some really interesting tops! 00:09:26.500 --> 00:09:28.380 And - I'll see you all for my next video. Bye! 00:09:28.380 --> 00:09:31.041 [music plays]