Tie Dye Draped Top

I have been anxious to try Paco Peralta's Draped Top pattern and decided that my latest SMF stash acquiisition would be perfect for this project.  I finally gave in to the Red Plum Tie Dye cotton knit that Roz has on sale, like I needed another addition to my stash.  A quick muslin with my standard square shoulder  a slight forward shoulder adjustment and an increase in the hips resulted in a great fitting draped top. 

The fabric was prewashed and dried in the dryer so I wouldn't have any future shrinkage in case the top was accidentally dried with other laundry.  Hubby can be so helpful sometimes.  I really like to hang my tops to dry, especially since this one is a cotton/lycra blend.  It is super soft and lightweight. 

This project was perfect to experiment with some new techniques.  Most of the time I just use my serger to zip up a knit top, but with this one I used several different techniques.  The shoulder seams were sewn with a 1.5 mm by 1.5 mm zig-zag over clear elastic.  Usually I iron on a tricot interfacing and just sew a straight stitch while gently stretching the fabric.  The side seams were sewn following instruction from Jalie patterns that you can find on YouTube. 

I also weighted the drape by sewing a little pocket to hold either a curtain weight or in my case a spare quarter that I found on my husband’s dresser.  The armholes were bound by cutting a 1 ¼ inch strip of fabric, folding it in half and stitching a ¼ inch seam. The binding was then pressed inside and topstitched down.  Mettler 60 weight in white was used to stitch the top with the exception of the hem which was sewn using a cover stitch on the serger.

To prevent skipped stitches and tunneling 1 inch strips of a Sulky product called Sticky Fabri-Solvy which is water soluble and washes out beautifully was lined up along the edge of the bottom of the top.  The hem was then pressed up and stitched.  I love this technique for hemming knits and it should work like a dream with a double needle stitched hem also.

I love Paco’s pattern and plan to make several tops in silk charmeuse using this pattern.  One additional item, for this top the front seam was eliminated by taping the two front pieces together and cutting the front as one piece.  The muslin was made as drafted by Paco.  

Thanks Ronnie!  Your workmanship is beautiful and you achieved a wonderful fit.  I'm looking forward to the silk charmeuse versions.