Hiii! Today let’s make our second scrap fabric eyelet top.
This design is great for bigger and smaller scraps, but can also use up a bunch of medium/small pieces if you’re making it for kids. Design #2 is for my niece.
If you are also trying to use up every bit of your scraps and want to make multiple designs with one type of fabric, consider making several blouses of different sizes. I recommend if you decide to do this, that you make whichever design will use up the most fabric first.
Remember to check out the other posts in my mini scrap-busting series:
Now let’s go make the second eyelet top design!
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Approximate time put into this project: 2-3 days, with 3-4 hours dedicated to it each day.
What You’ll Need:
- Scrap fabrics, approximately 1-1.5 meters, depending on the size and how long you make your sleeves
- Preferably use large/medium scrap pieces for this project, but you can work with smaller pieces if you patchwork them together first. Small pieces will also work great for the sleeve detail.
- For this project, I used leftover eyelet fabric and thick, cotton material typically used for button-up shirts
- Matching thread
- Sewing machine
- Sewing pins
- Scissors
- Fabric tape measure
- Fabric chalk
- A reference shirt that fits comfortably, not a baggy fit
- If you use a baggy shirt when cutting, you’ll need to add less seam allowance
- Iron and ironing board
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
In a perfect world, you’ll want to cut out the following pieces. If you have to patchwork them together to get full pieces, don’t worry about it. I’ll show you a couple of things I did to make my patchwork pieces look more intentional and elegant.
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 two mirrored rectangles at 1/4 of your bust measurement (i.e. your reference top folded in half), 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. You’ll ideally want to cut your pieces with the armpit curve included.
- To create the V neckline for the front, place both rectangles together, good sides facing.
- Take your tape measure and determine how wide you want the opening of the front of your top
- At the center front, mark half of that measurement (about 3″ (8cm))
- Next, mark down from the top edge where you’d like the V opening to begin (about 2.5″ (6cm – 7cm). 1″ (3cm) is also good, but you’ll need to make sure you can get your head through the opening once it’s sewn)
- Draw a straight line to connect the two, then round this out so there are no pointy edges
- For the top back, cut a rectangle following the outline of the back of your reference shirt. Make sure you copy the neckline and sleeve curves onto your piece. Matching the same shoulder sleeve width as that of your front piece. Add an additional .75″ (2cm) to the length of the back piece.
- 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 two rectangles this height + 1″ (3cm) of length. For the width, ideally, you’ll want to cut it 1.5x – 2x the width of your top piece.
Facing:
- Next, cut your facing. You’ll want to cut piece 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.
- My fabric was a little see-through, so I cut a full front piece and a smaller back piece.
If you’re short on fabric, you can make the facing shorter than the front and back pieces. They do not need to be the same size. The only pieces that need to match are the neckline on the front and back. If you only have small scraps, you can make the facing about 3″ (8cm) wide around all sides, just matching the shape of the top. This is a great way to use up small scraps and still clean finish everything.
For The Sleeves:
- Cut two rectangle sleeve pieces on fold at your desired length
- Remember to add the sleeve curve
- If you want a puffy sleeve make the folded part of the sleeve taller. The taller it is the more puff you’ll have overall
- For sleeve ideas, consider the sleeves from the upcycled puffy sleeve top or the sleeves from the last scrap blouse design
- I was running out of fabric at this point and had to cut each sleeve in two pieces, meaning my sleeves would have a seam along the top of the arm and along the armpit.
- If you’re trying to use up itty-bitty scrap pieces, cut some small rectangles that are at least the width of your sleeve as well
For the Sleeve Cuffs:
- Cut two strips of fabric that are 1″ (3cm) tall on fold. The length needs to be the width of your arm/wrist (at wherever the cuff is going to sit) plus 1″ – 2″ (3cm – 5cm). You can make this taller or longer if you desire. I find a cuff that sits at the bicep to be more comfortable when it’s a little loose.
Sewing The Top
Left Picture:
- To sew the eyelet top front, place the good sides facing of both your top front and front-facing, pin them together. Measure how far down you’d like the V to open, then put a pin at that mark. Sew from your pin placement down, leaving your desired opening unsewn.
Right Picture:
- 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.
Left Picture:
- Open the facing and the eyelet top piece and lay them flat together, good sides facing. Pin along the neckline, starting with the shoulder seams, then sew around the neckline. Snip the curves of the seams and into the point, but don’t cut through the stitches.
Middle 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.
Right Picture:
- 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
The top half of my piece has the complete armpit curve plus a little extra length, so I’m doing the sleeves next. If yours doesn’t, you will need to attach the bottom half of your blouse before you attach your sleeves.
To prep the sleeves, since my sleeves were not full pieces, I first pinned them together along the center top, with good sides facing. Then sewed them together. To give it a more intentional look, I zig-zag stitched the seam, each side separately and pressed it open with my iron. Then I sewed a top-stitch down each side to hold it in place.
For the decorative pintucks, lay your sleeve out flat, good side facing up, and grab those long, scrap pieces of fabric. Give it a good press before you begin.
First, determine where you want the bottom pintuck to sit. Notice I’m starting at the bottom of my sleeve where the cuff will sit.
Left Picture:
- Taking your strip of fabric, pin it good sides facing the good side of your sleeve. My strip of fabric is pinned 3″ (8cm) above the end of the sleeve. Sew a straight stitch where your pins are placed.
Middle Picture:
- Use your iron to press and fold the strip of fabric and create a crease. Pin the fold in place and then sew a straight stitch to keep it in place.
Right Picture:
- Next, pinch and fold the fabric to create a second row for your pintuck. Pin it in place and sew a straight stitch the same as you did before.
Left Picture:
- If you run out of fabric, you can add in another piece the same way as you sewed your first piece. Simply pin it in place, good side facing the good side of the sleeve. Make sure you line up the raw edge exactly on top of the raw edge of the previous piece. Sew it in place, then continue to make more pintucks following the same pinch, fold, pin, and sew technique from before.
Right Picture:
- When you don’t want to make any more pintucks, to finish the raw edge you simply need to fold the raw edge under and sew a straight stitch to hold it in place.
Then repeat the same steps and placement on the other sleeve.
Final Steps
Left picture:
- Pin the sleeves good sides facing into the shoulders on your top and sew. Finish the raw edges with a zig-zag stitch or by overlocing.
Middle picture:
- Gather the two bottom pieces of your top to match the width of your top pieces.
- Pin the bottom pieces to the top front and back pieces with good sides facing. Sew, then finish the raw edges.
- Then press the seams with your iron and optionally top stitch this seam in place.
Right picture:
- Pin up the sides, from the bottom hem to the end of the sleeve. Make sure the important parts line up, like the armpit, where the top and bottom pieces come together, and the design we added to the sleeve. Sew and finish the raw edges.
Create a double-rolled hem along the very bottom edge and top stitch to finish the bottom of your eyelet top.
To finish the sleeves, pin your cuffs good sides facing, and sew. Double-check that you can comfortably and easily fit your arm through the loop. Once you’re happy with it, gather the bottom of each sleeve to a matching width.
Pin the good side of the cuff to the inside of the sleeve and sew it in place. Then fold the cuff in half. Tuck the raw edge to the inside by .50″ (1cm), and pin the cuff in place along the outside of the top. Top stitch along the very top of the folded edge. Repeat with the other sleeve and you’ve officially finished your scrap fabric eyelet top (design #2). I hope you like it as much as I do!
Finished Results
What do you think? Which eyelet top design do you lean more toward, this one or design #1? Let me know in the comments!
Here are a couple of close-up photos of the blouse as well.
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
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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.
