Jul 12

Jul 12 Madewell Made Me Do It Again: Banded-Bottom Button-Down Top

Heads up!

I found this draft from March in my neglected blog posts file. (It’s mid-July now.) The draft was mostly images, just waiting for me to fill in the text. So! It’s been a few months since I made this top, and some details may not be exactly spot on, but I’ve done my best to fill in the blanks I left myself and get this hack out into the sewing world.

Spring ‘23- The Meta Gods are hitting me with all their best ads.

Hello, beautiful! I love your style. A camp collar! Short sleeves. Cropped length AND waist shaping. I love you. I shall make you mine.

The back of the gold inspiration top is never shown, but, BEHOLD, in black, we’re given a look. We just need to create a bottom band for our top and shir the back.

I grabbed my Agave pattern (fresh from testing!) as it checked all the right boxes- the right collar style, set in sleeves, and a wide back. I’m certain I cropped the front and back by several inches, but my notes don’t indicate how much I brought those pieces up in anticipation of adding the bottom band. I did go back and check my pattern pieces for on my process and found a pencil line five and a half inches up from the hem on those pieces. The lines aren’t labeled as such, but I think it’s a good clue.

My notes do indicate that I cut 2 front band pieces, measuring 9 inches wide by 8 inches high, as well as a back band piece, measuring 26 inches wide by 8 inches high. I probably came up with these dimensions based on the general finished height and width I wanted the front to be, though I cannot say exactly why I picked a 26” width for the shirred potion. *shrugs*

The back band was folded wrong sides together and shirred before joining the front band portions.