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Refashions· Sew for Girls· Tutorials

Thrifted Thursday—The Endora Top..a Tutorial

A few weeks ago I bought a garbage sack sized “grab bag” of vintage fabric at a thrift store.
It was pretty awesome—full of all sorts of 1960 something goodness like the fabric I made this shirt out of.  Now, I’m not really sure what kind of fabric this is…all I know is that it’s old, blousy, and I LOVE IT.
(And it reminded me of something that Endora, Samantha’s mom, would have worn on “Bewitched”…)
Anyways, this afternoon I was looking at it and decided to make Grace a little summer shirt.  So after a few minutes of messing around and 30 minutes worth of work this is what we got.  And I like it…and if you like it to I’ll show you how to make it:
#1.  Measure your little girl from where you want her sleeves to end, up across her shoulder, behind her neck, down her other shoulder, and to the point where you want the sleeve to end.
(For Grace, who wears a size 2T shirt, I measured her at 17 inches.)
#2.  Next measure from the base of the neck straight down to where you would like the shirt to end.
(For Grace I went with 14 inches.)
(One will be for the front and one will be for the back.)
#5.  Top stitch along both sides of of the seam.
#6.  It’s time to make the head opening.  I just used the width measurement of a scooped neck shirt of Grace’s which was 8 inches wide….it doesn’t need to be precise it just needs to be large enough to fit over the top of your little one’s head.
Once you figure the length center that length along the seam and mark with a pencil.
(My length was 8 inches wide so I found the center of the seam and then marked 4 inches away on each side.)
#7.  Sew across the seam line connecting the top stitching over each of the marks you just made.
(You can see what this looks like in the photo above—it’s the sewn line above the 4.5 inch mark.)
#10.  Now it’s time to close the sides.  This is done with just one single button on each side.
To figure where to place the button holes I went 1/3 of the way down the shirt and marked it with a pin.  (Then I had Grace put the shirt on just to double check.)  The button holes will go on the front of the shirt and 1 inch away from the edge.
#11.  Add your buttons to the wrong side of the back side of your shirt.
(And then I added a white button to the front, middle for decoration.)
And you are all done.
OOOOOOkay.  So now that I’m done I think that I made this sound a whole lot more complicated than it is.  All you have to do is sew 2 rectangles together, pop open a seam, and then add two buttons.  The end.  Maybe I should have just written that in the beginning.
Anyways, there you have it and when your finished it will look like this:
And I promise you it will take less time for you to make one of these shirts than it did for you to read the instructions.
Have a great Thursday and don’t forget to scroll down and enter the awesome giveaway!
 -liZ

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Comments

  6. nest full of eggs says

    I usually don’t gravitate to orange, but I love that fabric !!!
    thanks so much for sharing this tutorial ~ I’d like to sew some tops like this, I think that they would be perfect for charity, an easy to wear cotton shirt for an unprivileged girl in Africa/Haiti where it’s sunny & hot

  7. Ruby Jean says

    Oh so CUTE and Cozy Comfy looking… Well I just finished my Sewing Room… Well not FINISHED I still have a bit of organizing to do but the Brunt of it is done… 🙂 I feel Human again… LOL!!! have a great week!!

  9. Jude @ threadheadTV says

    LOVE the top and Grace is so beautifully expressive! Truly a beautiful little girl.

    I’ve had in mind a top for myself like this very one that you made only I want to make mine using a vintage silk scarf that my mother-in-law gave me as the front panel.

    I’m just wondering why you chose to keep the sides open and have a button closure… is that the only way to get it over the torso?

    Thanks for all your wonderful creativity… so inspiring in every way.

  14. Nichole says

    I love this! Looks so breezy and comfortable for warm summer days! Thanks for the tutorial, I’ll look forward to trying it!

  17. DCarlton says

    I bet this would work using 2 bandanas! They come in really cute patterns and are only $1 at walmart. Plus they are probably the perfect size depending on the size of the child! I am gonna try it out for my little girl!

  19. ebullient lullaby says

    thank you so much for the tutorial, for a beginner like me the pattern is quite easy. i’ve made this top for about 2 hours and this tutorial really motivated me to make another top 🙂