Bardot top - Free sewing patterns

This bright and breezy top by Amanda Walker is perfect for making the most of the remaining sunny days before autumn. It’s so quick to sew and would look great in a pretty cotton print, with delicate lace edging the sleeves.

Essentials

Print fabric, 1.3m
Elastic, 1cm wide
Edging lace
Matching thread
Bias binding folder

Dimensions List

Small, medium, large
1cm seam allowance used throughout.

Sew a top

1 Download and print the pattern from the September 2016 templates pack (click the link above). For the front and back top, cut two on the fold. For the frill, cut a strip measuring: small: 21cm x 1.41m; medium: 21cm x 1.45m; large: 21cm x 1.49m.

2 Neaten the side edges of the front and back pieces by overlocking or zigzag stitching. Match the front and back top pieces together with the right sides facing. Pin the side seams and stitch together. Press the seams open.

3 Make up two strips of bias binding. Cut the strips 4cm wide and long enough to fit around each armhole. Pass the bias strip through a bias binding folder, pressing the folds in as you pull it along the strip.

4 Carefully fold and press the binding in half again lengthways. Slot the folded binding over the cut curved armhole edges, then machine edge stitch in place. Neaten the two narrow ends of the frill strip and stitch them together to make a circle. Press the seam open.

5 Neaten around one of the edges of the circle by folding and pressing 1cm onto the wrong side. Lay the straight edge of a length of edging lace onto the wrong side along the fold line, then stitch in place. Begin and finish stitching the lace at the frill joining seam; this seam becomes the centre back. Fold the frill in half along the centre back seam and make a mark on the opposite fold line on the raw edge.

6 Find the centre and make a mark on the front and back top pieces. Match the centre back seam of the frill to one of these marks, and the other to the mark made on the frill. Pin the frill to the top raw edge of the front and back pieces with the wrong side of the frill facing the right side of the back and front.

7 Fold and press to the wrong side, 1cm around the top and onto the two gaps beyond the top of the front and back, then fold and press another 2cm. Pin and edge stitch in place. This becomes the channel for the elastic.

8 Wrap a length of elastic around your shoulders and stretch it tight while making sure it still feels comfortable. Cut the elastic to this length, unpick a couple of stitches at the centre back and use a safety pin to thread it through the channel.

9 Stitch the two ends of the elastic together and tuck back inside the channel, then close up the gap. Fold and press in 1cm at the base of the top, followed by another 2cm, and edge the hem in place.