Tutorial: Christine Jonson Pattern #107 Tie Back Top

I'm going to go thru the instructions that came with the pattern, for the Tie Back Top #107, one at a time with you. Most will be accompanied by a picture of what I did at that step, and I'll add any comments I have about what I did that may need explaining or add to the instructions. I will assume that you have the pattern instructions so I only have to add to them and not retype them here.

Here is where I started.



Step 1: Basting, two rows.





Step 2: serged shoulder seams.



Steps 3 and 4: Sew ties, clip to the dot, serge finish seams. (I made a clip to let myself know where the dots were instead of tailors tacks.)









Step 5: I turned and presses, no pictures.

Step 6: This is the most difficult part, but don't worry, it is still not hard (Thank you, Christine!) just fussy! You have to make sure your sewing lines here meet the sewing lines you made when making the ties, that is key to having the front look neat and finished.

Match notches, adjust gathers to fit.




You must get the needle and stitches all the way to the previous sewing line.


Another pic, all the way to the previous sewing.


Check your work, looks good here!


I serge to clean it up after I finish the seam.


Step 7: Stitch betwen the dots, again it is important here to get the needle all the way to the previous stitching lines.

This is a picture of the drawing under step 8 (oops! before I serged it!).


Get in there!




Check your work. I single needled again and trimmed, instead of serging here.


Step 9 and 10: Side seams. How does your brain work? Christine's diagram is good. I put the top neatly on my dressform, mark what gets sewn together at the underarm seam, and go sit down and sew all 4 seams (right and left front and lining).





Step 11 and 12: Hem. Again how does your brain work? Christine's diagrams make sense to me, but when I'm sitting at the machine I do it a little differently. I straighten out the shirt, then reach between the layers at the underarm and pull the hem thru there (much like doing a lining on a jacket, but there are no sleeves). Sew around the hem and straighten it out back thru the arm. Sorry, no pic sewing the hem!



Step 13-15: Baste the armholes together, if you wish, sew sleeve underarm seams (my pictures didn't turn out, but pretty understandable!), and sew sleeve into armhole, matching notches. I sew with the sleeve on top, it helps me to manage the ease better.



Step 16: Double needle on the sleeve hem.



The finished product! My pictures don't do it justice, too cute!