Sew Along Top and Pattern Review

9 Materials
$20
3 Hours
Medium

In this tutorial, I sew the Sagebrush top from Friday Pattern Company. This pattern has been in my ‘to sew’ pile for a while now so I am really happy I finally got around to it. Join me as I put together this really cute top! I will also be giving a short pattern review at the end of the tutorial.

Tools and materials:

  • Ruler
  • Marker
  • Fabric
  • Scissors
  • Pins
  • Safety pin
  • Elastic
  • Sewing machine
  • Serger
How to sew a top

The ruffles

To start off I took the front yoke and staystitched the top neck edges. 

Press in half


Next, I pressed the gathering piece in half and sewed two rows of stitches. I pulled on the threads to gather the pieces. 

Distribute the gathers


I distributed the gathers evenly making sure the pieces matched the length of the front yoke. I then pinned on the gathered piece. A great trick is to pin vertically because it helps distribute the gatherers evenly. 

Ruche the piece


Next, there are some notches on the lower bodice front. I added some stitches and gathered to make the piece nice and ruched before sewing it to the yoke piece. This adds some really nice volume to the blouse. After stitching, I serged to finish the edges. 

Make a top


I pressed so that the seam allowance went up and the ruffles went down and then I topstitched that in place. 

How to make a top

The back yoke 

I folded the edges of the back yoke twice on the wrong side to help create the placket.

Pin the back yoke pieces


Next, I pinned the back yoke pieces to the lower back piece using the notches as a guide. I then stitched all the way across. I pressed the seam allowances down, serged the edges, and then topstitched. 

How to make a shirt

The shoulder and side seams 

Next, I placed the front and back pieces, right sides together, matched up the shoulder seams, and pinned them together. I stitched that on the machine and took the liberty of serging as well. I then did the exact same for the side seams of the top. 

Make a shirt

The neck binding and back ties

Starting with the binding piece, I folded the strip in half. I then folded the raw edges toward that centerfold. Next, I folded the binding in half again. I made sure to press every fold I made. 

Mark the center


Once my bias binding was ready, I marked the center point. 

Match the markings


I marked the front of the neckline and matched up the two markings. I folded the binding out and matched up the raw edge of the binding with the neckline, pinning as I went. 

Stitch raw edges


I stitched the raw edges and then folded the binding over.

Sew a shirt


When pinning it in place, I find it better to place the pins in the direction that you’re going to be stitching. For the ends, I clipped the corners of the ends to reduce the bulk. 

Backstitch


When I finished stitching the neckline, I backstitched slightly because to stitch the tie, I would need to stitch in slightly. 

Sew gathering stitches

The sleeves

The top of the sleeve has three notches. I started by sewing gathering stitches and then I left them to move to the side seams. I pinned the side seams, stitched them together, and serged. 

Pull the gathers


Next, I pulled those gathers.

Pin the armhole

I placed the sleeve inside the armhole and matched up the seams and the notches and then pinned and sewed all the way around the armhole. 

Fold the sleeve

I folded the sleeve by about half an inch and then another half inch which creates the casing for our elastic. I marked a gap 3 inches long and then stitched leaving that 3-inch gap open. 

Use a safety pin


I used the safety pin to insert the elastic into the casing. 

Overlap the edges


Once the elastic was all the way through, I overlapped the ends and sewed them. I also sewed closed the gap 

Sew the hem

The hem 

For this top, I sewed a nice, generous hem, creating a double fold of 4 inches. 

How to sew a shirt


To see what I had to say about this pattern and the top in general after sewing it, go to 10:00 in the video. This top was a breeze to make and is super comfy! Let me know how you would style this puff sleeve blouse! 

Suggested materials:
  • Ruler
  • Marker
  • Fabric
See all materials

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