Polka Dots for a Wrapped Top

written by Lori - Girls in the Garden July 2, 2019 3 comments

Polka dots, I just love them but sometimes have trouble finding them for garments I make. Not this time, Mood Fabrics has this amazing polka dot in 5 colorways and reorderable. What is this fabric? It is a Mood Exclusive, Dipping Dots Cotton Poplin and I used the green. Green is not a color I normally gravitate towards but this one just called my name. I am so happy it did, I love this color and this fabric.

This poplin has an amazing hand, bright color, sews and presses beautifully. It is 100% cotton and the Mood description states as one of the suggested garments a wrapped dress. Well, I didn’t need a dress but I did want a wrap blouse. I went with McCall’s 7892, with several choices of sleeves and length options.

I love the big bow on the blouse and the flared peplum just to name a few of the features of this pattern.

This pattern has gathers at the bottom of the front bodice and center back bodice, attaching to the waistband.

A great feature for the bustline, plus I felt like this helped with the wrap portion of the top. My top does not gape at all. One adjustment I do on wrap tops is to shave off a bit from the bottom of the wrap. Just the portion that is the wrapped under (left). I just do it at the end, about an inch, this pulls the under portion in and helps form to the body.

The waistband is nice and wide, interfaced and self-fabric for lining. I could not have asked for better fabric, this polka dot poplin was the best to sew and took a press beautifully.

Even though it has a crisp hand, the peplum portion of my blouse drapes beautifully. The instructions have you place four hook and eyes to the inside of the waistband. What a great idea, it holds that waistband in place and then the tie doesn’t do all the work. Now I just did two hook and eyes, eliminating the ones next to the front edge. My weight fluctuates and I could use the bow to determine the tightness of the blouse and just let the inside ones keep that part in place. In retrospect, I might need to add those hook and eyes to the outside portion. The weight of the bow does pull the waistband down and keeps it from all lining up.

Let’s talk about the length of this blouse; I added one inch to the bodice and one inch to the peplum. The inch to the bodice makes it fit and feel so much more comfortable. The inch to the peplum was something to make the length a comfortable one for me.

The sleeves are different than any option on the pattern envelope. Truthfully I didn’t have enough fabric and had planned to do the sleeves from dress C. I am so happy I didn’t have enough fabric, the flounce on the sleeves would have been too much for me. A nice short sleeve is perfect and lets the wrap and the peplum be the focus of the garment lines and the polka dot be the statement of the garment. I did flatten out the sleeve cap, it just wasn’t easing in nicely. By flattening the cap just a bit, my sleeve insertion was so much better.

Once again I need to praise this fabric, I loved sewing it. The press on this poplin was what dreams are made and pretty wrap tops love. This is a reorderable fabric, but don’t wait go get some, it is perfect for summer sewing.

Now if I could just teach my dog to take my photos, but he would rather be in them!