Cropped Top Tutorial

I have seen so many cropped tops lately. I thought it would be so easy and fun to make one, since it is basically a square or rectangle.

I had some of this polka dot fabric which I picked up at the fabric store last year. I just never got around to making anything.

I gotta say, I am really liking it.

I want to make at least one more for myself, perhaps in a solid color.

Next time I will have to cut the fabric a little wider so I can make the sleeves a little longer.

If you want to see how I made this top, stick around

First determine how long and wide you want your top.

I cut my rectangles 29X23

Next I found a shirt where I liked the neckline

I used it to trace the neckline on my fabric

(eek... I am using a permanent marker, hubby stole my fabric marker, his excuse was he loved how smoothly it wrote )

I made sure my front and back lined up at the shoulders

My fabric was kind of silky

In order to hem it, I folded down once and sewed

I used small scissors to cut of any extra fabric

Then I folded the fabric over twice and ironed the neckline/shoulders/and back

I sewed down the edge

After sewing the neckline, I ironed everything down

Here is how the finished neckline looks like

I bought a 7 inch heavy duty jeans zipper at Walmart for under $2

I folded the back portion in half and cut down about 6 inches to fit the zipper

Here is how I finished the zipper hole.

I think it would have looked really pretty with a button to.

Then I sewed on the zipper with matching thread.

Exposed zippers are so easy!

Here is the finished zipper

This is how the inside looks like:

Then I sewed the shoulders together and ironed open the seams

Then I eyeballed how I wanted the "sleeve" to look and marked it with a pencil.

I sewed along the line and then cut off the access fabric:

To make sure both of my sides matched up, I folded the shirt in half and marked where I needed to sew the other side

Once I sewed that side together I cut off the access fabric

I used a small zig zag stitch to finish both of the sides

Then I used an old shirt of mine with a rounded bottom as a template for the hem.

For the front I just flipped the shirt upside down to get the "cropped look"

I cut the "cropped" front and longer back.

Then I just hemmed the bottom using the same method I did with neckline

That's it!

I managed to sew the top and take the pictures all during my little mans nap time.

That should tell you how fast and easy it was!

Here are a few pictures

Back:

Front:

Side:

Thanks for visiting!