You may be familiar with the Fun with Fabric pattern. The envelope shows the top made with sleeves.
Anyway, you know Louise. She's always coming up with variations for the patterns. So she decided it would be cool to make this top sleeveless, like this:
This version necessitates a few changes, so I'll go through them for you. First, here's a look at the pattern pieces for the upper part of the garment.
Note that the side seams go up, then curve out. Also, notice the dot at the bottom of the armhole. Be sure to mark that dot.
To make the sleeveless version, you need to turn the armhole seam allowance to the inside by 1" (rather than 5/8"). That's going to force a change to the shoulder seam. If you stitched the shoulder seam at 5/8" from the neck to the shoulder, you couldn't turn back the armhole seam allowance onto itself. So you need to turn the pattern pieces back on themselves at the shoulder by 1", measure down 5/8" and make a mark, as I did in the following photo. When you open out the fold, the stitching line will angle upwards toward the shoulder edge.
Serge the shoulder seam edges, then stitch the shoulder seams from the neck toward the shoulder. At 1" from the armhole edge, follow the new stitching line you drew so the seam angles upward. Now the shoulder seam will fold back nicely on itself, as in the next photo. Serge the side seam/armhole edges.
Then fold the armhole edges to the inside of the garment by 1" between those dots at the bottom of the armhole. It's easier to do this pressing before you sew the side seams. (At this time, you'll need to bind the neckline. That must be done before you sew the side seams, but you will follow the instructions in the pattern for that step. I'm not addressing the neckline in this post.)
Once the whole armhole edges are pressed (and the neckline binding is applied), it's time to sew the side seams. Stitch them using a 5/8" seam allowance, but don't curve over to the dots at the underarm. Instead, stitch straight up even with the dots--you'll be 3/8" away from them.
Press the side seams open. That pressing should coincide with the 1" folds you've already pressed around the armhole. Ta-da!
Lay strips of Steam-a-Seam under the armhole edges, press lightly, and remove the paper backing. Fold the armhole edges in place and press to fuse.
Topstitch the armhole edges next to the serging. Begin on the side seam, 1/4" below the dot. Stitch at 90 degrees from the side seam to the serging, pivot, and stitch around the armhole next to the serging. Pivot and stitch at 90 degrees to the side seam, ending your stitching at the side seam.
Here's how it looks from the outside.
You might like this as a breezy summer option for the Fun With Fabric top.
