How To Make A Kids Scrap Fabric Top: Design #3

Today – we’re making our third scrap fabric top in our mini scrap-busting series. Way to go us – using up our leftover fabric. High fives all around!

When you’re done reading this post – go check out some of our other scrap fabric projects so you too can bust through your fabric stash. We’ve got plenty of ideas to go around, including the last two from this mini series:

• How To Make A Scrap Fabric Eyelet Blouse: Design #1
• How To Make An Eyelet Top Out Of Scrap Fabrics: Design #2

Oh and hey – if you’ve got any other ideas for sewing projects that you’d like to tackle, let me know in the comments. I’d love to know what projects you’re working on (or want to work on next)!

Now – are you ready? You’re not going to believe how cute this is! Let’s gooooo!

This post may include affiliate links.

Please read my disclaimer page for more info.

Approximate time put into this project: 3 days, with 2-3 hours put into it each day

Disclaimer: I am trying to teach myself the Metric System. I will try to always include both measurements in my tutorials, i.e. centimeters and inches, meters, and yards. I have been using them interchangeably in my everyday sewing life lately, sorry if I switch between the two too often or forget to include them both. Thanks for understanding!

Cutting Your Pattern

As we begin the cutting and sewing process for this third scrap fabric top project – I’m really starting to run out of materials. Which is great! But also means we really need to get creative when designing the blouse. We’re aiming for a project that uses up lots of itty bitty scraps without looking like it was pieced together from many scraps.

If you can cut full or big pieces – of course go for it! But if you are unable to and need to cut, for example, your sleeve in two separate pieces as I did, we’ll go over all the details so you know how to make it look intentional and less like you had to patch things together.

When sewing with scrap fabrics, make sure you cut out your biggest and most important pieces first.

For The Top:

Use a t-shirt as a reference for the fit, neckline, shoulders, and armpit curves. Fold your shirt in half at the center front and cut your pieces out around it with 1″ (3cm) of seam allowance on all sides. You can also use chalk and trace around your shirt.

• For the top front, you’ll need a piece cut on fold at half of your bust measurement, plus seam allowance. Cut around your reference top to get the sleeves and shoulder line.
  • Before you cut, take a tape measure to determine how far down you want your top to be.
• Use the same method to cut the piece for the back of your top. Folding your reference shirt in half along the back.
• For the bottom half of the top, measure from where the top piece stops to how long you want your top to be. Then cut one rectangle this height + 1″ (3cm) of length. For the width, ideally, you’ll want to cut it 1.5x – 2x the full width of your top piece. If you can’t cut a full piece, you can totally cut multiple rectangles and patch them together.

Facing:

• You’ll want to cut pieces that are at least 3″ (8cm) wide around the neckline and part of the shoulder. Just use your top pattern pieces as a reference and cut 3″ (8cm) around the neckline of both the front and back pieces.

• To create the V opening for the back piece, fold your back piece and your facing piece in half as shown above.
  • Take your tape measure and determine how wide you want the opening to be. If you’re making this top for someone older than an eight-year-old, you will probably want to make a bigger opening so your head can fit through the top.
  • At the folded edge, mark how far down you want the opening, for this top, I’m marking with a pin at 2″ (5cm). If you’d like the opening to have a tear drop type shape, measure either from the top neckline or the mark where you pinned, in towards the center by .50″ (1cm). When you cut you’ll want to create a straight snip out to the .50″ (1cm) mark, then round this to the tip of your other point. You can also just cut this straight down for a V shape.

For The Sleeves:

• Cut two rectangle pieces on fold at your desired length.
  • Remember to add the sleeve curve to one end.
  • If you want a puffy sleeve you can make the folded part of the sleeve taller. The taller it is the more puff you’ll have overall.
  • I did not have enough width to make the full sleeve puffy, so I made some changes to create a more voluminous gather at the wrist. I cut an additional piece of fabric for each sleeve at 1.5x the length of the top portion of the sleeve. With a height of 3″ – 4″ (8cm – 10cm). I cut only enough length to close the gap from right above the wrist to just below it, plus 1″ (3cm) for seam allowance.

Extras (For added detail and using up itty bitty scraps):

• For the opening at the top back of your blouse, you’ll want to cut two rectangles of fabric on fold at your desired width and length to create ties.
• For the pleats on the front of the blouse, you’ll need to cut some rectangles of fabric that are your desired width for the placement across the chest. You can use a long strip of fabric for this, or use many smaller pieces. My pleated front piece is made up of three separate pieces, and the pleats are kind of faked.
• Next, there are two pieces of fabric that endcap the pleats to create a clean finish. So cut two strips of fabric the length of your top blouse piece plus 1″ (3cm), it can be as wide as you’d like. Mine were about 3″ (8cm) wide.
• Finally, cut two strips of elastic the width of your wrist plus .75″ (2cm.)

Sewing The Top

To sew the scrap fabric top front, pin the shoulder seams of your facing together, doing the same with the shoulder seams of your top pieces. Sew and zig-zag stitch or overlock the raw edges. Press both pieces with your iron, and zig-zag or overlock the raw outer edges of the facing, but not the neckline.

To prep the front detailing piece you can do this one of two ways.

• You can create pintucks like we did in this sewing tutorial, using up smaller pieces of fabric by sewing the pintucks directly onto the center front of your blouse.
• Or, if you have a little bit bigger scrap pieces and you want an almost pleated look, grab your iron and begin ironing little plates into your strip of fabric. I recommend pinning as you go.
  • Once you’ve got it pinned in place, sew a straight stitch along one of the edges to hold everything in place. Before sewing the other side smooth out your pleats and re-pin anything that’s not sitting where it should. Then slowly sew a row of straight stitches down the other side of the pleates.
  • Repeat these steps with any other strips of fabric if you need a taller piece for the front of your blouse. My pleated front piece is made up of three separate pieces of fabric.

Left Picture:

• Fold the front of your scrap fabric top in half to find the center. Do the same with your pleated piece, I recommend marking this with a pin or fabric chalk. Then line up the center of your pleated piece with the center front of your blouse and pin to hold it in place.
• Next, grab two strips of fabric and iron them in half with wrong sides facing. Then fold the raw edges to the inside, fold the strip in half, and press with your iron. Open the strip of fabric as shown in the left picture and pin it with the folded edge touching the raw edge of your pleats.
• Unfold the front of your top and then repeat the same pinning method with the other half of the blouse.
• Sew a straight stitch along the folded edge to hold this in place. You could sew a second stitch row along the raw edge if that’s easier, we’ll be sewing this later as well.

Right Picture:

• Fold the other side of your strip of fabric down and pin it in place, enclosing all raw edges on the inside.
• Finally, top stitch along both folded edges.

Note: Leave a gap between the top of the neckline and the bottom of your front piece. It does not need to be as big as my gap. But you may find it difficult to sew the neckline later if you put your pleates all the way to the top of the neckline.

Prep your two ties for the back of the top. To do this, take two strips of fabric and fold them in half, good sides facing. Pin and sew along the raw edge, closing off one of the short ends diagonally. Then turn each one right sides out and press with your iron.

Alternatively you can use the same folding method we used to prep the strips that enclosed the raw edges of the pleats, just top stitch to close the open edge.

Left Picture:

• Finish the raw edges on your facing with a zig-zag stitch or by overclocking. You do not need to finish the raw edges of the neckline.
• Open the facing and the top piece and lay them flat together, good sides facing. Pin along the neckline, starting with the shoulder seams.
• Before you sew, grab your two ties and sandwich them between the two layers at the corners where the neckline opens.
• Then sew around the neckline. Snip the curves of the seams and into the point, but don’t cut through the stitches.

Right Picture:

• Then turn it right side out, pushing the facing to the inside of the top. Press it with your iron to make sure everything lays flat. Pin around the neckline and top stitch.
• Pin your facing so it doesn’t move on the underside of your top and stitch around the edge of the facing to hold it in place.

Sewing The Sleeves

To make the sleeves look intentional despite them being cut in multiple pieces, we’ll need to first create a gather around the cuff.

Left Picture:

• First, sew a loose stitch and gather the bottom piece to the same width as the piece above it.
• Pin these two pieces together, good sides facing and sew.
• Then finish the raw edge.

Middle Picture:

• To create a tunnel for the elastic, we’ll need to fold the seam over. Make sure you measure the width of your elastic so you know how far over you need to fold the seam.
  • Look closer at the middle picture for a view of both sides of the seam/tunnel.
• Pin this in place. Then sew a straight stitch as close to the finished edge of the seam as you can get.
• Optionally, you can sew a second stitch along the folded edge to hold the tunnel in place. I cannot remember what I opted to do.

Right Picture:

• Finally, create a double-rolled hem along the bottom of the sleeve. Pin it in place and sew.
• Then use a safety pin to feed the elastic through the tunnel. Make sure to pull it out each end by .50″ (1cm) and pin it in place with a few pins so you don’t lose the elastic. Sew each end in place, going back and forth a few times to make sure the elastic doesn’t get lost in the tunnel.

Finishing The Blouse

• Pin the sleeves good sides facing into the shoulders on your top. Start at the bottom of the sleeve and work your way to the end of your top. Sew, then finish the raw edges with a zig-zag stitch or by overlocking.
• Taking the bottom piece for your top, pin the open edges together good sides facing, and sew the piece of fabric into a loop. Finish the raw edge, then sew a loose stitch along the top edge and gather it to the width of your top piece.
• Pin the bottom piece into the top piece, one nestled inside the other, with good sides facing. Sew, then finish the raw edge.
• Lastly, create a double-rolled hem along the very bottom edge and top stitch to finish the bottom of your scrap fabric top.

Finished Results

Well – how’d we do? Do you love it? Tell me in the comments which design you like best and are planning to make!

Left Picture:

• From left to right:
  • Design #2
  • Design #3 (this post)
  • Design #1

---

If you make this project, tag and DM me on Instagram @doorsandfloorsblog so I can see what you make! Remember to use the hashtag #DoorsAndFloorsBlog

Explore other recent posts:

• What You Should Know About Your Money Before Moving Abroad
• More Great Sewing Projects To Use Up Leftover Fabric
• How To Successfully Make $0.00 Online While Working A 9-5
• How To Make A Satin Lined Beanie From Fabric Scraps
• The Most Important Travel Items For Your Next Trip

Find us on social media!

P.S. Looking for a fun activity you can do with a friend while working on tedious crafty tasks, download our free trivia here.

Playing trivia is a great way to keep your mind active and have fun with your crafty friends and family while busting out those seam ripping, crocheting, and other time-consuming, but necessary, crafty tasks.