DIY One Shoulder Top

This time of year is best to be bare, and one shoulder tops are one of my favorite ways to be cool and cute. It is easy to whip one up and i did just that.
You need about 1.5 yards of lightweight fabric, silk or similar, 1/4 inch elastic, and if you want a shirred bottom, you need elastic thread.  I hope you can understand my tutorial.

You need to draft an easy pattern. The measurements you need are the fullest part of your bust, the distance between the top of your shoulder and the underarm, the distance between the top of your shoulder and where you want the top to end, and the distance between the center of your neck in the front, and where your neck and your shoulder meet.

I use wax paper, from the kitchen.   Draw point A, add 4 inches to your bust measurement and divide it by 2.  Mark point B at this distance straight across from A.   Point F is placed up from point B with the measurement of the shoulder top to the underarm, and it goes about  2 inches in. This might change depending on your body, but you can change it later. Connect F and B with a curved line. You can use a french curve, or follow the curve from one of your tank tops.
Now, point E is about 1/2 inch higher than F, about 1.5 inches in.   If you measure from point E to the center of distance A-B, this should be about the measurement of the center of the front of your neck, and where your neck meets your shoulder.
points C will be about 2 inches out from point A, and it will be the length of your top. Point D is the same, straight across from C, about 2 inches away from point B.  Connect all the points, A-E and E-F will be straight, the only curve is F-B.

This is the front and back. Try the tissue on you, to make sure that it fits your body.   YOU NEED SEAM ALLOWANCES!!!!!






Cut 2 pieces from a single thickness of fabric.
You will want to embellish the neck line. I made a flounce.
 Cut a long spiral, as wide  as you want the flounce to be.  Wrap it around one shoulder and your chest as in the picture, and cut it about 2 inches longer, for seam allowances and ease of wear.  Sew the ends to close the flounce.

Sew the side seams and the shoulder seam with right sides together.  Cut a bias strip of fabric to finish the armhole, sew it.

 Cut a 1 inch wide strip of fabric, on the grain, the same length as the flounce, and sew the ends together, with right sides together.   Finish one edge, I serged it.

Finish the free edge of the flounce. I used a rolled hem, but a narrow hem will do.

 

 Pin the flounce to the top. The right side of the top to the wrong side of the flounce. then place the strip of fabric on top, wrong side up.  Align the seams from the strip, the flounce, and the underarm seam.
 Fold the strip of fabric to the inside, and sew from underneath the flounce.

Measure a length of elastic snug around your shoulder and under your arm, like the flounce, but snug. Sew the ends together. Sew the elastic to the inside of the top, close to the edge.

 Go ahead, try it on, ......
Hem the top, and you are ready to wear it as is, with a belt at the waist, or do like I did, and sew straight rows of stitches at the bottom, with elastic thread on the bobbin,  for a shirred, or blouson effect.  
You can also, gather the bottom, and sew a ribbon, or a sash of self fabric, that can be tied on the side.

                                          Find somewhere sunny to go !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!