When Life Doesn’t Give You Enough Fabric, Make a Top

Is sewing imposter syndrome legitimate?

You heard it here first, yes. It's real. At this point in my sewing journey, I was lacking a certain sense of confidence required to create clothes completely from scratch. I made a bag from start to finish for my very first solo project, which not shockingly turned out looking a little weird. That taught me a lot about cutting fabric and how important the concept of symmetry is. I’ve done lots of adaptations to pre-existing clothing items, whether it was adding things to thrifted sweatshirts or turning shorts into a skirt, but last night I decided it was time. I was going to create a skirt with zero patterns, zero tutorials. Just myself, my Brother sewing machine, and a maxi skirt dream.

The pieces were falling into place

I had this vision for a long lace skirt, one that's been on my “To-Buy” list forever. There was an adorable white lace skirt hanging out in my October Nuuly cart, but I was already one bonus item deep and something had to go. I turned to my roommates, who were active participants in the all too important Nuuly selection, and said “I’m not going to get the skirt, I’ll just make one instead.”

And that’s how we ended up here. In the bin of fabric I inherited from my grandma, the OG sewing inspiration, there is a beautiful pice of white lace I’ve been dying to use. I had the lace, a piece of white cotton fabric, and enough elastic to go around my waist. Everything I needed already in my sewing collection…how hard could this skirt really be?

Well unfortunently today’s not the day you find out. I was mapping things out and making a plan of attack, starting with a basic white mini skirt to go under the lace. After this was done I realized that my waist maybe isn’t as small as I thought it was, and there was in fact not enough lace fabric to go all the way around. Temporary set back, but being the resilient seamstress that I am, I hit a pivot with a smile on my face.

Looking at the early version of a mini skirt in the mirror, I shimmied it up my body, hit a little hemming action, and boom. The start of a top was born. This is where I let my creativity flow. I had scraps of lace and white fabric laying all over the room at this point, so I started moving things around, pinning at the front, back, and side for about 20 minutes. With a general vision of what I wanted to do with this tube top, I got to work ironing and sewing and cutting.

No rules is the best creative rule

I was having so much fun. With no directions to follow, I just flew by the seat of my pants. Or the hem of my tank top? I don’t know, regardless, I was in a cycle of trying it on, taking it off, adding some tweaks, rinse and repeat. I ended up creating a lace layer on the chest area, which turned out so fun. My goal was to create an elevated basic that would blend under all my fun jackets, but still keep a little intrigue.

I loved having full control over how the top fit. I went through my collection of tanks and took notes on what I liked about each of them, playing around with different strap thicknesses and necklines, eventually settling on a supportive but dainty lace strap. This supportiveness was great in theory, but I didn’t end up sticking with it. I was craving something a little more fun, and after some more pondering in the mirror, I decided to go in an off-the-shoulder direction. A direction that could be re-routed back on the shoulder if I was feeling a little more conservative.

My 10pm bedtime was quickly approaching at this point, meaning I was cutting myself off. If I work on a project like this right before bed I get super energized and lay awake thinking about all the things I could add. Besides, the top was almost complete at this point other than one minor tweak to the left strap.

Is post-sewing glow a thing? Because if so, I bet I’m sparkling. This top turned out worlds better than I was expecting, and I am SO HAPPY ABOUT IT. If there are any fellow novice sewers out there reading this, here’s my words of wisdom. They might less words of wisdom and more like a set of obvious observations, but nonetheless.

Here’s what I learned from this project.

1. It matters if your seams are straight a straight line. Even if the thread it white on white fabric.

   1. Don’t look too closely at the hem of my top, I promise it’s extremely neat and straight. Just take my word for it please.

2. When backstitching, always make sure your thread tails are visible. Otherwise shit gets tangled.

3. When things go south, join them. Don’t worry too much about the plan and let your creative freak flag fly.

4. You ARE capable of making things from scratch, dive deep into that imagination of yours and make it happen!