I am retired and have more than enough clothes for my lifestyle. But I still want a sewing project that require me to try a new technique, or sew a unique fabric or style. After scrolling through my inspiration photos, I pulled out two pictures of sleeveless tops that have "back interest" and challenged me to sew them. The first one requires sewing faced openings in a difficult fabric. The second, in an upcoming post, involves pattern drafting.
The first was a top from the Knip Mode pattern magazine July 2025 issue, top 17. I bought the PDF pattern from the website.
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| Knip Mode 0725-17 |
What interested me were the large elliptical cutouts on the back that form a flower when the narrow parts are attached together in the center. I was also intrigued by the challenge of facing and turning these shapes in a mid-weight tweed fabric without the edges shredding. The fabric I chose was a red cotton tweed purchased from Fabric.com (no longer in existence) in 2007. I lined it in the front and faced the cutouts in the back with red sheermist batiste fabric purchased at Hobby Lobby (online store). It is a poly/cotton blend, light weight, but finely woven, not sheer. I use it for underlining, lining and actual garments. The same fabric is also available on Etsy as Imperial Batiste Fabric by Spechler Vogel in many more colors.
After fitting a muslin of the pattern, I cut it out of the fashion fabric. I fused medium weight weft interfacing on the back to stabilize the fabric and traced the cutout design on the interfaced back.
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| Back with traced design |
I hand basted the red Sheermist to the face side of the back pieces and sewed carefully on the lines for the cut out shapes.
I removed basting stitches, trimmed the shapes near the stitching line with pinking shears, and carefully turned the smallest parts. Garment back and front were then assembled as one would a typical lined sleeveless top. The spokes of the flower with attached under a decorative button.
My Project Takeaways:
- I was able to turn the narrowest parts 3/8" wide without pulling out fibers from the fabric. Yeah!
- When I tried to attach the parts of the flower in the center under a small button, the back buckled unattractively, so I used a larger decorative button found in my stash.
- If you don't plan to wear a bra with a garment, remember to fit the muslin without the bra. Otherwise, the finished top will be too large in the bust.
- The cutouts look great on the top when it is on a dress form. But they are quite large and move around a lot when one is wearing the top and walking, sitting etc. When worn without undergarments, side backfat rolls can be seen in the openings. This was shown in one of the model photos on the website, but I didn't note it at the time.
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| Knip Mode 0725-17 Front |
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| Knip Mode 0725-17 back |
