Upsizing A Top & Fighting Stretchy Fabric | The Style Pile #4

There is a box, in the corner of my sewing
room.

It is a box whose contents have not seen the
light of day for many a month.

Many crafters will be familiar with this box,
in all of its forms:

There’s the ever-growing amorphous lump
that lies underneath your desk…

The monster underneath your bed…
The stuff you vacuum-packed in a fit of organization

and stuffed into your garage in the hopes
that you’d never have to deal with it again…

This, my friends, is the UNFINISHED SEWING
PILE.

The item that I’m going to work on today
is a new addition to the pile – this rust-coloured

crop top. Now, it’s cut apart at the sides
already because, uh… I tried it on the other

day and it was too small and I literally had
to be cut out of it so that I could breathe.

You might remember this being mentioned if
you watched my vlog the other day.

Katie: "And yeah, I had to cut you out of
that shirt the other day, so there was that."

Annika: "Yep."

Anyway, I thrifted the top of weeks ago, even
though I knew it was probably too small for

me, because I REALLY liked the colour and
style.

As you can see, it really doesn’t fit.
But that’s not a problem because I am going

to make it fit!

So my plan is to add a new back to the top.
The first thing that I do is to remove these

two bits that make up the back. To do that,
I seam rip it – which is, cutting through

and ripping out the threads at the side seams,
because I don’t want to lose any of the

fabric.
Cutting through all the threads takes a while,

but I eventually get there.
And at the very top, I snip through the bias

binding.
And the front piece is free.

Now, I’m going to use the old back piece
as a kind of template for my new back piece

– which is basically just going to be a
lot WIDER than this original piece.

So for the new back piece, I chose this rusty
red colour as I thought it would give the

top kind of cool colourblocking effect, but
also match the orange at the same time. The

new material was also a ribbed jersey, so
that the texture would also match the front.

I measured how long the original back piece
was, and then I added an inch up the top and

an inch down the bottom, so 2 extra inches
all up, for seam allowance for the hem.

I also added about 4 extra inches to the width.
Now I added 4 inches basically just by guessing

– because I figured that I needed around
2-3 extra inches of width on the back piece

to make it fit, and about an inch for a generous
seam allowance, so, all up - 4 inches. If

I've added too much and it's too loose, I
can always adjust and take it in more. Anyway,

here's my new back piece.

Now I am going to fold and pin these top and
bottom edges of the new back piece, so that

it becomes the same height as the original,
using the original nearby as a guide.

On the original piece this top bit actually
curved down a little bit towards the centre,

so I also copied that onto my piece by adjusting this hem so that it also has a curve in the middle.

Next, I’m going to sew the hem down like
this.

To sew the hem, I am actually going to be
using this new twin needle that I just got!

And this is the first time I’m ever using
this twin needle, so fingers cross that it works!

I bought this because twin needles are really

useful for sewing stretch fabrics. When're
only using a normal needle and normal sewing

foot on a material like ribbed jersey, it
likes to do this - which is not a super good

look. Using a twin needle stops this from
happening, and it also gives hems this super

professional double-stitching on the outside.

To thread a twin needle, you will need to
use two spools of thread on the top of the

machine. For my machine, both the threads
are threaded through together like normal,

and then separated into each of the two needles.
The bobbin is threaded just like usual.

Also, you when you’re using a twin needle
you need to sew on the top side of the material

that you're sewing, because these two lines
of straight-stitching will appear on the top,

and on the underside it'll appear as zig zags.

So, on the back piece that I just pinned,
I actually had to move all the pins around

to the other side. Now I am going to sew across
like this, using my twin needle, to hem the back piece.

While sewing, I also use my walking foot to
make super dooper sure that the hem isn’t

going to ruffle. A walking foot is another
weapon in your arsenal against that ruffly

hem. It uses these little “feed dogs”,
which kinda look like little walking feet,

to pull the fabric through evenly on both
the top and the bottom, and this prevents ruffling.

When you’re using both a twin needle and
walking foot together, you should also sew

really slowly.

And, there it is! My super nice, professional
looking, completely flat hem!

Now I just have to attach these front and
back pieces together, which I do by placing

them right-sides together and matching up
the edges at the sides.

Then, I pin and I sew like this.

Again, I’m using my twin needle for this
seam but if I didn’t have one then I would

be using just a regular zig zag stitch. That
extra line of stitches that a twin needle

provides does give the seam a bit of extra
strength.

As well as stopping that ruffly hem, the twin
needle SEEMS to be pretty good on SEAMS as

well! See what I did there…? Seams...? Yeah...?

And here’s what the top looks like on! It
fits! Which is much better than before! I

can actually breath in it, and it’s really
comfortable. But, it's still tight enough

that I don’t have to wear a bra with it
either which is great for me because I absolutely

hate wearing bras in summer! I also feel like
with the orange and red it has this kind of…

superhero-costume sort of feel to it, kind
of like the Incredibles, because of the two

colours being colourblocked like that? Am
I the only one who’s getting that vibe?

Yeah? Oh well.

Anyway, that’s it for today’s episode
and I’ll see you all in my next video! Bye!

Thank you to all of my wonderful Patreon supporters
who helped to bring you this video! Check

out these two wonderful clothing stores, littleguntank
- who makes the most gorgeous upcycled kid's

clothing - and Sarsparilly - who stocks a
whole range of vintage-inspired and handmade

dresses. I guarantee you'll love them, check
out the links to these stores in the description

box below. See ya!