Hello there! It’s Melissa again and I have a modification for the kids Beach Dreaming Crop Top pattern (affiliate link) I wanted to share with you. This is one of my most favorite Ellie and Mac patterns for my daughter. I feel like I sew at least one up each week.
My daughter enjoys having crop tops of various lengths so I frequently modify the crop top to different lengths based on what she’s feeling like that day.
I typically have three different lengths I go to for my daughter. She currently wears the size 7/8. These lengths are the normal drafted length, shortened by 2.5 inches, and shortened by 5 inches. I use the same piece, I just fold it to remove the length.
Here are the three different lengths cut out with the front and back bodice pieces. The lemonade is the standard length according to the pattern, the watermelon is 2.5 inches removed and the be kind print has 5 inches of length removed.
Now that we have adjusted the length of the pattern piece, we must also adjust the measurement of the band we need to cut. The standard band piece for the size 7/8 is 4 inches x 20 inches. We first need to find out what percentage the current band is cut for before we can adjust for the other pieces’ bands. I prefer to calculate the band length before I start sewing the pieces together.
First, I measure the bodice piece. The pattern piece is 5.5 inches cut on the fold, which is 11 inches each piece. This is a total of 22 inches. Now, we must remove the seam allowance from each piece. The seam allowance for this pattern is 3/8 inch, for a total of 1.5 inches removed from the bodice, which leaves us with 20.5 inches for the bottom of the bodice. Now, we mentioned the band is 20 inches so we divide 20 by 20.5 to determine the percentage used to calculate the band. It comes to 97.5%. Below I have all the calculations written out:
Next, I cut out each band piece.
I then follow the directions for attaching the band and hemming both the arms and neck.
Of course the last part of the process is putting the item on my model. She always loves this pattern and it’s easy to get her to put crop tops on for a few quick photos. She absolutely loves this pattern and I definitely love how easy it is to use it for scrap busting.
My daughter enjoys having crop tops of various lengths so I frequently modify the crop top to different lengths based on what she’s feeling like that day.
I typically have three different lengths I go to for my daughter. She currently wears the size 7/8. These lengths are the normal drafted length, shortened by 2.5 inches, and shortened by 5 inches. I use the same piece, I just fold it to remove the length.
Here are the three different lengths cut out with the front and back bodice pieces. The lemonade is the standard length according to the pattern, the watermelon is 2.5 inches removed and the be kind print has 5 inches of length removed.
Now that we have adjusted the length of the pattern piece, we must also adjust the measurement of the band we need to cut. The standard band piece for the size 7/8 is 4 inches x 20 inches. We first need to find out what percentage the current band is cut for before we can adjust for the other pieces’ bands. I prefer to calculate the band length before I start sewing the pieces together.
First, I measure the bodice piece. The pattern piece is 5.5 inches cut on the fold, which is 11 inches each piece. This is a total of 22 inches. Now, we must remove the seam allowance from each piece. The seam allowance for this pattern is 3/8 inch, for a total of 1.5 inches removed from the bodice, which leaves us with 20.5 inches for the bottom of the bodice. Now, we mentioned the band is 20 inches so we divide 20 by 20.5 to determine the percentage used to calculate the band. It comes to 97.5%. Below I have all the calculations written out:
Next, I cut out each band piece.
I then follow the directions for attaching the band and hemming both the arms and neck.
Of course the last part of the process is putting the item on my model. She always loves this pattern and it’s easy to get her to put crop tops on for a few quick photos. She absolutely loves this pattern and I definitely love how easy it is to use it for scrap busting.
