Latest Design: Reversible Split-Back Top

My home girl Lena doesn't know it yet, but this top is for her. Get an insider look at my latest design from creating the pattern to putting together this 2 in 1 top. PS- I totally made one for myself. I could not resist the vibrant hues.

Project Specs

• 1.5 M of Cotton/Polyester blend fabric (0.75/ color-way)
• 1 Spool of orange popsicle colored thread

• 4.5 hours over the span of 10 days
• Sewn on a Juki DDL 8300

Fabric

I picked the fabric up from Gala Fabrics on South Granville Street. Typically I do not like to work with Polyester, but this fabric only had 30% Polyester. Cotton fiber content being the majority I gave in. More like the pop of colors made me buy them...

Inspiration

My inspiration is two fold. My best friend Lena is celebrating her Birthday this month, and I wanted to make her something special. Lena loves color (especially pink, hello kitty obsessed) and she loves any clothing with an open back. ​

With the perfect fabric in tow from Gala, I searched my closet for an easy garment with an open back to replicate. Top is from Winners several years back for $14.99!

Pattern Drafting

The garment I want to replicate is 2 dimensional, so easy to trace out FRONT and BACK pieces. For the FRONT, I placed garment in half as it will be cut on fold. For the BACK I need the shape including the split back hem, so I opened up the garment. You just need to carefully trace out what you see, we can clean it up later with drafting rulers.

For areas that have fabric under it, use a tracing wheel to mark the paper. I used the tracing wheel to mark the split back hem and the front neckline.

Once FRONT and BACK are traced, I used straight rulers and a french curve to clean up lines.  

Before finalizing the pattern pieces, you need to ensure certain seams match. These include the shoulder seams and the side seams. This is imperative as they need to be sewn together.

Once all your appropriate seams match, seam allowance, notches, grain-lines and titles are marked.

Design Elements

Now its time to sew! I will have to admit, I stood for several minutes trying to figure out what seams to sew first and what order I need to sew the seams to ensure the top was fully reversible with no raw edges exposed.  This section will cover the important elements to make this top reversible. 

Reversible Garment

I could have kept this top super simple by not offering a reversible element, but that would be very much unlike moi, so hence the difficulty level increased dramatically. 

Sequence of sewing steps went as follows:

1. Sew split-back hem seam
2. Sew shoulder seams
3. Sew neckline seam
4. Sew FRONT hem
5. Sew side seams, leave an opening approximately 5" on one side seam. This becomes your final opening to flip everything inside out. Basically, the fully enclosed look I desired.
6. Sew armhole seam
7. Hand sew 5" opening shut
8. Hand sew split-back pieces and back neckline together

Here is a close up shot of what the reversible element looks like along a seam. How beautiful!

Open Back

I already covered sequence of sewing steps earlier. But I wanted to share that it is important to sew the split back hem prior to putting together the rest of the garment.

Hand Sewn Finishes

Any fully enclosed (fully lined) garments require an opening to flip the garment back to right side out. I left my opening on the side seam. WHY? Because its the straightest seam and doesn't alter the smooth curves of the hem, that's why.

Opening was slip-stitched to ensure a smooth finish.

Final Design

Hope you have enjoyed the inside look into my reversible split-back top. By the way, I loved it so much I had to make one for myself! ​

If you would like to learn how to make this top, BOOK a lesson with me.

Happy Sewing!
Designed, photographed and written by Sheila Wong Studios