Sparkly Tilly and the Buttons Freya Top

Despite having made countless Tilly and the Buttons Freya tops, it's still a pattern that I turn to again and again. Not only is it perfect to hack, the original version with a mock neck can be made to look completely different depending on the length and fabric choice. As soon as I saw this fabric from Minerva I knew that I wanted to make a cropped turtleneck top from it. It was exactly the kind of fabric I've seen RTW tops made from and my sister even has a turtleneck top made out of a lurex rib like this one. Most of the time I use RTW clothes to inspire my sewing, but sometimes I want to make something exactly as I've seen it so when the right fabric comes along the plan falls perfectly into place.

The top that I wanted to recreate was a fairly simple cropped turtleneck neck which seemed like a great way to show off an interesting fabric like this one. I like that it isn't too bright, for me having a sparkly fabric which was also brightly coloured would feel a bit much to wear but having a black lurex fabric like this one is perfect. It means that I can wear the top not just as a going out top but also as something that can be dressed down.

One thing that I've found to be quite annoying when shortening the Freya top (or any similar pattern) is that the side seams flare out slightly at the hem. It's because the pattern side seams are designed to be curved not straight, and I often forget about it until after I've sewn the hem. I regret not doing this on my most recent Freya, so for this top I straightened the edges of the pattern pieces  before sewing the side seams so that the hem lies completely flat. I also made sure that the hem was 1" deep which is a must on stretch fabrics to avoid it turning up.

I've made turtleneck tops out of quite a few different jersey fabrics with varying degrees of stretch but using a rib tends to give the best results. My zip-neck Freya top made from a red rib fabric my favourite of all the Freyas that I've made. Ribs are great because they're so stretchy, but they also bounce back into shape really well meaning that the neckband doesn't get stretched out. I've found this to be true when comparing two Freya tops that I made ages ago, this one is made from a really stretchy rib and is much easier to take on and off than this one. I also like that rib offers a different texture to a cotton jersey so that even if the fabric is plain the top doesn't feel boring. 

The only problem I found when it came to making this top was that the right side of the fabric is quite itchy. This isn't a problem for most of the top because its the inner fabric that I can feel (which is very soft and comfortable to wear) but it did pose an issue when it came to the neckband. The neckband of the Freya top is designed to be folded in half with the right side of the fabric on both the inside and the outside of the neckband. When I tried the top on the neck kept bothering me, so I unpicked it and resewed it so that the inner layer of the neckband has the wrong side of the fabric touching the neck. It was really simple to do, I just added in a seam around the top and cut the neckband into two pieces rather than folding it in half. I don't think you'd need to do this with a thin neckband but it was an easy adjustment to make on this top and has made a big difference.

The best part about this top is that I was able to make an improvement on the RTW version in avoiding having the right side of the fabric touching my neck. It's the kind of thing that RTW clothes wouldn't think to do, but when the clothes are homemade they can be tailored exactly to your wishes. I'm really happy with how this top turned out and have already worn it to a zoom-party! Hopefully I'll be able to wear it out in the real world at some point soon.