Early this year when I was shopping for a new sewing machine I found this beautiful Robert Kaufman quilt panel. I bought it because it was too beautiful to leave behind. I had vague notions of making it into a quilt, but I secretly wanted to find a way to wear it. It was such a small piece of fabric (27″ x 44″) that I couldn’t think how it would be possible to turn it into a piece of clothing. But then I made my first wrap shirt and realized this was a way to use quite a small piece of material to good effect.
The first step of the project was cutting out the neck opening. I used my first wrap shirt as a guide for this. I faced the neck opening with a gorgeous batik that I also used for the binding and ties. Next I added some shaping. My first wrap shirt had darts that radiated from the chest to the waist. For this shirt I wanted to preserve the beautiful design as much as possible, so I used horizontal darts instead.
Step 3 was to make binding and apply it to the garment edges. I used a 1/2” straight grain binding since I didn’t need to go around any curves. Finally I added waist ties to the front and back. The ties attached to the back are made of twill tape (they tie under the shirt in front) and the ties attached to the front are made of batik (they tie in back). For the batik ties I used strips that were 4” by 22 1/2” (half the fabric width) to end up with ties that were 1 1/2” wide.
At this point I thought my shirt was done, but I tried it on and I didn’t like how wide the shoulders were. So I came up with a cunning plan to pleat the additional material to reduce the shoulder width. I did this by hand with spaced back stitches. I didn’t worry too much about making each pleat the exact same size, I just made sure the shoulders were both pleated down to the same measurement (4 1/2”). With that, my second wrap shirt was done!
I love the bright, clear colours in this top! I was worried that the wrap design would slip down and expose the side of my bra, but I don’t find this to be an issue. Due to the very small amount of fabric I started with the top is a few inches shorter than I would like. I solve this problem by wearing it with high-waisted bottoms, but this does limit my outfit options. I’m also not sure if I like the bagginess just below the shoulder pleats on front and back. I suppose every adjustment has positive and negative effects. If it truly bothers me I can easily rip the pleats out and wear my shirt. The pleats were done last, so they don’t impact any of the finishing.
I don’t know why I am so drawn to garments like this. Maybe I just love the cleverness and simplicity of making a whole shirt out of 3/4 yard of fabric!
Do you find yourself gravitating toward a specific style of garment or pattern? Why?
Dramatic Lyric 