easy-peasy lace top // diy

 Happy Monday, lovelies! I hope you had a fantastic weekend--I sure did! My two highlights were Hunger Games with Friends and then Mad Men premiere with husband--two much-anticipated events in our household. Both delivered according to expectations :) 

But now, lace :)

A couple months ago, I fell in love with a lace top by Yellow Suitcase Studio on Pinterest (where else?), and I knew I HAD TO MAKE IT. It looked so easy, and I couldn't believe she had made her top out of an old lace curtain (click through to see her version, it's pretty darn cute and comfy-looking!).

I'll admit that I went to vintage shops a couple times specifically to look for lace tablecloths and curtains to refashion, but alas, it was not to be. Either people in Santa Barbara do not like having lace in their homes, or they don't donate it.

And this, my friends, is what inspired husband to let me free in the fabric store last week :). Bless his little heart.

Folding the lace in half, I took a shirt I liked and cut out a rectangles of lace that would generously accommodate the shirt (I cut through both layers at the same time).

I lined the shirt almost along the bottom of the lace, since I'd be using its pretty finished edge as my bottom hem. Less work for me, and I love that :).

Next, I folded the rectangles in half (so four layers, now) and cut around the shirt, leaving LOTS of wiggle room:

I separated the front and back and cut out a neckline (following another shirt I liked) while each was still folded.

I pinned together the two layers of the lace and sewed the side hems closed (a harder feat than it sounds, since the lace didn't like to hold the pins; I'm still finding pins in my carpet... ouch!). I had intended to do french seams like Michelle had done, but since I had copied the pattern of a knit shirt with quite a bit of stretch to it, there wasn't quite enough of fabric for it to still fit.

I also tried doing a bias hem around the neckline and armholes, but since I was kind of winging this project, I didn't realize that cutting a hem on the bias (so the threads make X's rather than squares) was what made the bias hem work! D'oh! You live and learn. I know now how to do it right for next time :)

Sorry for the awkward picture, but we were in such a hurry to get to the movie theater that we barely remembered to snap a picture. But there 'ya have it.

It took a LONG time to figure out how to make my machine tolerate sewing through lace, but once that was all worked out, the whole project took about an hour and a half. That, plus a little less than a yard of fabric, makes for a relatively simple afternoon project :)

Also, if you haven't voted on the poll in this post yet, I'd love your input! Let me know what you think.