DIY Sleeveless Turtleneck Top

I started off this year with quite a few long, involved sewing projects. I made a pair of jeans, followed by a lined jacket and another pair of jeans. My sewing fluctuates between wanting to make more complicated things that I can be fully absorbed in, followed by simple makes that take a short amount of time. For me, those simple makes are always t-shirts. I know I'll get a lot of wear out of them and I really like using t-shirt sewing patterns as a base for pattern hacks. Recently, I've been focused on exams and revision so simple t-shirts have been ideal sewing projects.

I've had a sleeveless turtleneck top in mind for a while and of course turned to the Tilly and the Buttons Freya top to use as a base to hack. I've made the pattern over and over, including this sparkly version and this plain black version so far this year. One of my favourite Freya hacks that I've done is this zip-neck version. This is my first time making the pattern sleeveless and for this project I kept the turtleneck, but I think it could nice to make it as a vest top too.

My biggest challenge when it came to this top was getting the armhole to fit well. I wanted to give the armhole an inward curve, as well as narrowing the shoulder seam by about half its initial width. To make sure there wasn't any gaping I tried the top on quite a few times while making it and pinned the fabric in place. The main thing that made the fit work was to add an armband around the armhole. Much like a neckband, this was a piece of fabric that was folded in half and then stretched when sewn in place. It worked really well and has drawn the fabric in place to ensure that there's no gaping.

I wanted to make a simple top that I could pair with my wide-legged Dawn Jeans which are really high-waisted, so I cut it quite a bit shorter than I usually would. The length has ended up pretty good for pairing with those jeans as the top finishes just above the waistband, but it meant that I couldn't lose any length when it came to hemming the top. I wasn't sure how to avoid a wobbly hem which is how jersey hems often turn out if anything less than 1" has been turned under. When I mentioned the problem to my mum, she reminded me of some white jersey bias binding that I had in my stash. It was the perfect solution, I sewed the bias along the bottom of the top before flipping it to the inside and stitching it down. Not only is it really neat on the inside, the hem is perfectly straight and I only lost 1/4" in length. I happened to have some shop-bought binding in my stash but it would be really easy to make and it's definitely a finish I'll use again.

For the fabric I used a plain white cotton jersey from Craft Cotton Co, one of my favourite fabric types. I've actually used this same plain white colour way before to make this jumper and this top, I love it because it's much more opaque than most other white jerseys and also feels nice to wear.

I remember talking about how sewing often feels like a superpower when I made this top a few years ago, and my new sleeveless turtleneck feels like another example of that. Sewing allowed me to replicate a design that I liked while making it in a lovely fabric, achieving a great fit and adding something to my wardrobe that I know pairs with other items. 

I actually loved this top so much that I immediately made another one in black! That's definitely a sign of a successful sewing project. I know I'll get lots of wear out of this style of top and having one in white and in black means that I can wear one of them with pretty much any trousers. I'll share more about the black version in a seperate blog post. Seeing as they're both identical and are both very basic colours I'll be interested to see which one I wear more.