Saturday, October 28, 2017

Handmade Batty Top for Halloween

I am waaaaay too excited about this little top!  :-)  I was at JoAnn Fabrics to get who-knows-what, and I saw a display of Halloween fabrics.  The cool thing was that these were not quilting cotton fabrics but knits!!  Now, the designers may have envisioned some cute pjs for little ones, but that's not what I saw.  This bat-printed interlock spoke - no - screamed at me to become a top for moi.
  

To make this basic raglan-sleeved top, I used a pattern so old that it doesn't even show up on Vogue's out-of-print archives.  It is Vogue 8670, and I used it once before, 3.5 years ago, back in the final days of the old blog.  One thing I didn't like about that original top was that the sleeves are 2-pieces, with a seam running right down the outside of the arm.  This time, I did some creative taping and eyeballing to eliminate that seam.  It worked out great!


I sewed this top mostly on my serger, but I did use my regular machine to sew the neckband and the hems since I would be covering them up with non-stretchy trim anyway.


Please excuse the dog hair right in the middle of my hip here, but here is a closeup of two fun trims that I used to jazz up this top.  First, I machine stitched the top edge of this narrow velvet ribbon right on top of the hem stitching.  Next, I lined up some lace underneath to be caught in the second row of stitching at the bottom of the velvet ribbon.  I also bought the black lace at JoAnn, but unfortunately, I can't find it online.


So there it is!  My fun new Halloween top.  When I want to be a little less conspicuous about it, I wear a black cardigan on top so it's more subtle, but I love that it doesn't scream orange Halloween.  It's like classy Halloween.  

12 comments:

  1. OMG!!! This top is absolutely adorable on you! You always know exactly what fabrics and patterns go together beautifully! I truly do love it! Happy Halloween!

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  2. Those trims are fantastic. I didn't even see the lace until you pointed it out.

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    1. Thank you! Ive been trying to incorporate more fun trims into my garments.

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  3. Very classic indeed! Folks will get a chuckle when they finally see the bats! Very seasonal, and yeah, no orange. You have a great design eye!

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    1. 😊 thanks! You know, I've gotten fewer comments in person than I expected. I wonder if people don't notice the bats... or just don't care. 🤣

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  4. It's so cute, I love it, Jenny! You need an orange scarf and mittens and you'll be all set for Haloween night with the kids!

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    1. Yes! Oh my gosh I have an orange hat... its on!

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  5. It's perfect! I also hate having a seam running down the top of my arm - I am constantly checking to see if it's straight or not! :-) The trims are great, and the bats are subtle, so my guess is no one realizes they're bats!

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Thank you so much for taking the time to comment! It is wonderful to know someone is reading. :-)