tops

I made this top before I made the swimming suit, but was hoping to make a skirt to go with it before I posted it. Now I see that it just isn't going to happen. I suppose there is always next summer. The pattern is my well-loved Butterick 3344 and I made this same version in white earlier this summer. I...

I've already shown you these as WIPs, but I love these laneway photos so here they are in all their glory! This outfit is so me. 2005-07, I was dressed like this every Friday night sitting in a booth at Panic (Rochester Castle Hotel, Fitzroy) with my boyfriend/fiance/husband, a cider and a big bunch of friends. Nothing I love more for...

Hello! As I was left with a remnant of navy cotton from the magic McCall dress I decided to use it to try the increasingly popular Port Elizabeth top designed by the talented Sarah and that you can download for free at Burdastyle. I made a size 12 and only changed a few details: I took in about 1" down each...

Well there is an all expenses paid holiday to Dunk Island up for grabs on kidspot for it's top 50 bloggers and I just have to enter and win because our last family holiday was back in 2007. You see having 3 children in less than 3 years means that just the thought of a holiday sends us into a panic.....and...

  Orange linen skirt (Vogue 1045) with red, polyester knit top (Vogue 1085).  Fabrics for Skirt:  Shantung, Crepe and Linen. Fabrics for Top:   Two-way Stretch Knits Only, Drape Knits, Rayon Lycra, Cotton Lycra and Light-weight Silk. For more information on Vogue 1085 click here. For Vogue 1045 click here. Return…...

I've decided that I'm going to give myself this week to keep sewing for summer and then I'm going to hang it up and move on to fall. There is no way that I'm going to get to all 14 of the things I want to - oh, wait! Make that 12, since I finished these two items yesterday.... The skirt...

Hey there! I've sewn yet another top, this time the pattern comes from this book, the B2 blouse. There should be an elastic encased at the hips but I haven't decided if I want it or not so for the moment I'm just leaving it loose. The fabric is coral pink cotton veil and I've added golden rikrak along the neckline...

I just LOVE shirring! It's like an instant design booster technique, giving an ordinary looking garment a new facelift. These are made from a basic peasant dress pattern ( I used Leila & Ben's), shirred on the sleeves and neck and an inch below the arms for a romantic look. They are actually for Raya (Eid festival) this September, but both...

T-shirts are serviceable but boring. I mentioned before that when I didn't have time sew my uniform for, like, 10 years was a solid colored tee (H&M, mostly) and a bright printed skirt (half quickie hand-made, half RTW). I still enjoy seeing this look on other people, but I feel so bored I'm going to throw up when I put it...

Hello friends, how are you? It's been a loooooong time since I last posted something but I was on holiday and couldn't bring my sewing machine with me -tragedy! You can imagine that I started sewing again the minute I went back and so I present you a tunic from the Summer 2010 Female magazine: I used some cherry (or is...

How exciting for little old me to be nominated as one of Kidspot's Top 50 Bloggers ! There are some big names in the list there so it's exciting times.....and you can vote for me too. Oh dear, I'm no good at these popularity contests or asking you for things, but if you'd like to vote for me then I'll love...

This was a plus size top I've taken apart and recut to fit. It is a fun print, and the background is dark brown not black....

Here I am wearing the striped top with the flag pocket jeans and red plimsolls. Great for weekend stuff like mowing the lawn....

Ashley from Make It and Love It shows how she recreated a boy’s buttondown shirt into a pretty belted top for her daughter.  This would be a great new top for back-to-school!  Get the how-to. [photo…...

I really ordered The Sewing Workshop Liberty Shirt pattern to make a knit top. I did, however, make a muslin of the "jacket" which I blogged about in an earlier post. Seeing Sham's versions really got my attention. As she did, I did a "muslin" from cotton interlock knit. Gee, how I don't like the feel of interlock knit since I...

A weeks worth of sewing and this is all I have to show for it, a super simple knit top. It's not that the top took that long to sew. Total time spent to create it probably totaled two hours and that includes cutting it out. But its summertime! And the weather has been perfect! Our summers are so short here...

I cast off the Cap Sleeved Spring Top this afternoon. Details here. It was the first thing I have knitted in the round on circular needles and I loved it. Oh, except for the bit when I spent ages trying to work out how to do stockinette stitch in the round. Finally I asked Mr Google who told me that it...

Here's my second version of Simplicity 4076. This one has the same cut as my first top, in respect to the neckline and lengthened hem (see the details here ), except this time around, I allowed a for bit more ease and tried a sleeve variation. The fabric is a bright orange, cotton/lycra jersey knit from Fashion Fabrics Club. It actually...

All four 'Frankie' tops are available for sale in my online store. Please note that some colourways may take up to 4 weeks for delivery. This style of top is good for non-pregnant people, pregnant people and post-natal people as it has a longer cut and quite stretchy. Made in Melbourne, Australia with love. thanks, love Peta...

Why oh why does the weekend fly by so swiftly? It’s Monday again, another new week, another reason to worry why I can’t get many things done on the weekend like I’m supposed to…hmmm…typical me. Here's a top I made for Hanan a few weeks back. I call it the Chocolate Pie Top. It’s a tad too long for her but...

On a recent trip to the Salvation Army Thrift Store, I picked up a white linen skirt with a black print and some beading near the bottom. I thought it was cute and a good fit, but I didn't have a top to wear with it. To remedy that, I pulled out some black mystery knit fabric from the stash and...

Last weekend I finally found a few hours to make a much-needed item for myself. Somehow during my last pregnancy I managed to survive with only one long-sleeved maternity top. It must have been a combination of working in an office three days a week, putting on a lot more weight and so feeling warmer in general, and the fact the...

32 Things 15 Pieces Made 126 Days To Go I'm almost halfway done! I whipped this top up lickety split last night so now I can wear it with my dreamy eyelet skirt . The pattern (free from Burda - available HERE ) is lovely and straightforward. There were two pattern pieces and maybe five steps, one of them being "Cut...

Here's the striped fabric from Leeds market made up into a long sleeved knit top. I picked a simple style as the stripes are so dominant, and I think that has worked out OK. It still needs hemming which I will save for another day. It was a bit fiddly matching the stripes up but the knit gives a bit of...

This is a brown and tan printed top, which I completed early last week, using Simplicity 4076 (view D) and a length of polyester jersey. As evidenced by the other projects I've posted, I haven't sewn much with knit materials in the past, mostly due to negative experiences in which my machine stretched them beyond recovery. Late last year, however, I...

Here is a photo from my recent shoot of Beth playing it up for the camera. Oh, and I am going to make the 'Frankie' top in black soon, I promise! thanks, love Peta...

This is my third go-round with this pattern.  One was a wadder that I never posted (my fault, not the pattern’s), and the other is right here. I decided to go with a theme and make another top from this pattern with another Harajuku Lovers print from the Fabric Fairy. Here’s the envelope: This top [...]...

I’m kinda iffy about this one.  As soon as I got this fabric in the mail, I started having second thoughts about it.  I decided to use it for this top, since I never made it before and thus didn’t know if it would work for me or not.  Here it is- I still don’t [...]...

I've been buying more than sewing, which since this is 'RuthieK Sews', not 'RuthieK Buys a lot of fabric and posts gratuitous pictures of it' is not quite on topic. The usual excuses apply, I've been away with family, with work, working (a lot) etc. So I thought I would actually sew something, and here it is. This top is from...

I love a cowl top-very flattering for a small bust-and Simplicity 2594 has some nice design elements. I like the pleats at the front shoulder and the shoulder yoke with back gathers. I cut the front on the bias and the back on the grain, because I wanted to deal with as little bias as possible. I probably should have cut...